Award-Winning Author Discusses the Power of Picture Books

During the school day, Barnett met with all divisions to discuss his books along with the overall importance of literature for young people. He described his own career path and what inspired him to write for children: while working as a camp counselor during college, Barnett noticed how engaged his campers were with books. This led him to create and advocate for children’s literature that encourages a love of reading. Along with his friend, illustrator Jon Klassen, Barnett writes Looking at Picture Books, a newsletter for adults about how picture books work.

Barnett shared some picture book knowledge with students, framing it as a unique storytelling format that relies on the interaction between text and illustrations. Using “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown as an example, he explained how the illustrations, paired with language, create a surreal and dreamlike experience for young readers.

After school, Barnett met with parents and families at IDEA Space for a reading and book-signing session. Students had the opportunity to meet and speak with him one-on-one. Barstow parent Sheetal Kakarala said of her family’s experience:

"Aarya (grade 2) truly loved getting to meet him, as did the rest of us, and I hope we can get more people to these visits in the future as it truly is such a special experience to meet the creators of some of their favourite escapes and could be that thing that sparks the trajectory of where life takes them. One of the twins is still talking about Gita Varadarajan's visit (last year)."

Aarya shared her thoughts on the visit:

"Mac Barnett was VERY humorous and he does really good voices. I love all of his books, so it was very fun to talk to him and it was a once in a lifetime experience. I really liked getting to talk to him in the evening because I found out about books that he is working on and I got to tell him about characters and different things that I thought should come back from previous books in one of the series. He is an amazing author and very creative and he was very inspiring."

 

Mac Barnett’s visit was made possible by Barstow’s ongoing partnership with Rainy Day Books. Previous visiting authors include Gita Varadarajan, Jordan Ifueko and John Gallagher.