Mac Barnett (born August 23, 1982) is an American children's book writer best known for his advocacy of picture books. He has published over seventy works since 2009, consisting of over fifty picture books, graphic novels, essays, and short stories. He currently serves as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature (2025-26).
Contents
Early life and education
Barnett grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and graduated from Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland. He attended Pomona College, where he studied under the writer David Foster Wallace.
Career
Collaboration with Jon Klassen
Extra Yarn, a picture book illustrated by Jon Klassen, won the 2012 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and 2013 E. B. White Read Aloud Award. It was a Caldecott Medal Honor Book. Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, illustrated by Jon Klassen, won a Caldecott Honor and the 2015 E.B. White Read Aloud Award.
He is the co-creator, with Jon Klassen, of the Emmy-award winning children's animated series Shape Island on Apple TV+, based on their Shapes trilogy of picture books.
Advocacy for picture books
In 2011, Barnett wrote the Picture Book Proclamation, an art manifesto about picture books signed by 21 other children's writers.
In 2024, Barnett wrote La Porta Segreta, a book for adults about children's books, published in Italian by Terre di Mezzo, later published in English under the title Make Believe.
In February 2025, Barnett was inaugurated at the Library of Congress as the 2025-26 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
"Sturgeon's Law" controversy
In May 2026, Barnett released a book of essays for adults, Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children. In a chapter on literary quality, he modified Sturgeon's Law, the notion that "Ninety percent of everything is crap", writing, "I have a nagging fear that children’s literature suffers from a slightly higher crud percentage than literature as a whole. So I now offer Barnett’s Addendum to Sturgeon’s Law: Maybe more like 94.7 percent of kids’ books are crud."
This remark caused controversy among other figures in children's literature who felt that it was insensitive and inappropriate. Barnett released an apology statement via the Library of Congress, and expressed regret at how he had expressed the sentiment in interview with author Jeff Kinney.
Works
Essays
Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children - Cover by Carson Ellis
Novels
The Brixton Brothers - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Adam Rex and Matthew Myers (Simon & Schuster)
The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (Oct. 6, 2009). ISBN 978-1-4169-7816-9
The Ghostwriter Secret (Oct. 5, 2010). ISBN 978-1-4169-7818-3
It Happened on a Train (Oct. 4, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4169-7819-0
Danger Goes Berserk, illus. Matthew Myers (Oct. 2, 2013). ISBN 978-1-4424-3978-8
The Terrible Two - By Mac Barnett and Jory John, with illustrations by Kevin Cornell (Amulet Books)
The Terrible Two (Jan. 13, 2015). ISBN 978-1-4197-2737-5
The Terrible Two Get Worse (Jan. 12, 2016). ISBN 978-1-4197-2738-2
The Terrible Two Go Wild (Jan. 9, 2018). ISBN 978-1-4197-3205-8
The Terrible Two's Last Laugh (Dec. 24, 2018). ISBN 978-1-4197-3621-6
Mac B., Kid Spy - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Mike Lowery
Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Undercover (Sep. 11, 2018). ISBN 978-1-338-14359-1
Mac B., Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime (Dec. 26, 2018). ISBN 978-1-338-14368-3
Mac B., Kid Spy: Top-Secret Smackdown (Sep. 17, 2019). ISBN 978-1-338-14371-3
Picture books
The Shapes Trilogy - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)
Triangle (Mar. 14, 2017). ISBN 978-0-7636-9603-0
Square (May 8, 2018). ISBN 978-0-7636-9607-8
Circle (Mar. 5, 2019). ISBN 978-0-7636-9608-5
A Jack Book - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Greg Pizzoli (Viking Books)
Hi, Jack! (Sep. 3, 2019). ISBN 978-0-593-11379-0
Jack Blasts Off! (Sep. 3, 2019). ISBN 978-0-593-11385-1
Jack at Bat! (Feb. 4, 2020). ISBN 978-0-593-11382-0
Jack Goes West (Feb. 4, 2020). ISBN 978-0-593-11388-2
Jack at the Zoo (May 5, 2020). ISBN 978-0-593-11392-9
Too Many Jacks (May 5, 2020). ISBN 978-0-593-11394-3
Jack and Santa (Oct. 13, 2020). ISBN 978-0-593-11398-1
Jack Gets Zapped! (Feb. 2, 2021). ISBN 978-0-593-11402-5
Now I See books - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen (Tundra Book Group)
Now I See Spring (Apr. 7, 2026). ISBN 978-1-77488-673-1
Now I See Winter (Apr. 7, 2026). ISBN 9781774886694
Now I See Fall (Apr. 7, 2026). ISBN 978-1-77488-665-6
Graphic novels
The First Cat in Space - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Shawn Harris (HarperAlley)
The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (May 10, 2022). ISBN 978-0-06-308409-4
The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom (Oct. 3, 2023). ISBN 978-0-06-308411-7
The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip (Nov. 5, 2024). ISBN 978-0-06-331528-0
The First Cat in Space and the Baby Pirate’s Revenge (Nov. 4, 2025). ISBN 978-0-06-341550-8
Short fiction
"Best of Friends", Funny Business (Guys Read, 1), ed. Jon Scieszka (NY: Walden Pond Press, Sep. 22, 2010). OCLC 758985737
Awards
2013 Winner, E. B. White Read Aloud Award
2013 Honor, Caldecott Medal (Author)
2015 Winner, E.B. White Read Aloud Award
2015 Honor, Caldecott Medal (Author)
2015 Winner, Irma Black Award
2018 Winner, E.B. White Read Aloud Award
2020 Winner, Picture Book Category of the German Youth Literature Awards for the 2020 one-volume German edition of his trilogy "Triangle", "Square", and "Circle"
