This week, Mac Barnett‘s book Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children came out. I pre-ordered it months ago, and read it yesterday (5/6/2026).
However, I was apparently late to the party: I saw several newsletters and social media posts on the book before I got my hands on it. It apparently struck a nerve or several related nerves, so I opened the book wildly curious. (I should add that the response to the book continues to be lively: people are apparently calling for Barnett to “step down” from his position as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature,)
And my first thoughts are…hmm. I expected more.
To flesh that out, this is a small, short book: it only gets to 99 pages if you count the “about the author” page, so I literally expected more. Some of this expectation came from reading Barnett’s work. He’s quite prolific. I like some of his work quite a bit, and recognize the presence of a personal vision. Some of this expectation came from the fact that Barnett has gathered many awards, and serves, as was noted above, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
I expected more reflection, something to align more fully with the care he gives his own picture books. This…needed more. The personal stories were pleasant, the historical bits engaging–I will cherish the image of Sendak drawing insulting cartoons about the impossibility of educational television–and the appreciation of Goodnight Moon was right on target.
My greatest issue with the call for people to write good books for kids. There’s no guidance here on how to do that, and no real recognition that people might disagree on what good means–that some books for kids aren’t bad, but are working by different standards and on different goals.
