Mac Barnett

Mac Barnett
Barnett in 2025
Born	Castro Valley, California, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	Pomona College
Genre	Children's books
Website
macbarnett.com

Mac Barnett is an American writer of children's books living in Oakland, California. He was born in Castro Valley, California and grew up in Castro Valley and Oakland. ^[1]

Barnett graduated from Pomona College, where he studied under the writer David Foster Wallace. ^[2]

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. ^[3] 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. ^[4]

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.

In 2011, Barnett wrote the Picture Book Proclamation, an art manifesto about picture books signed by 21 other children's writers. ^[5]

In 2024, Barnett wrote La Porta Segreta, a book for adults about children's books, published in Italian by Terre di Mezzo. ^[6]

In Feb 2025, Barnett was inaugurated at the Library of Congress as the 2025-6 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. ^[7]

Works

Novels

• Brixton Brothers mystery novels published by Simon & Schuster (S&S): ^[8]

1. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, illustrated by Adam Rex (Oct 6, 2009)
2. The Ghostwriter Secret, illus. Adam Rex (Oct 5, 2010)
3. It Happened on a Train, illus. Adam Rex (Oct 4, 2011)
4. Danger Goes Berserk, illus. Matthew Myers (Oct 2, 2013)

• The Terrible Two - By Mac Barnett and Jory John, with illustrations by Kevin Cornell (Amulet Books)

1. The Terrible Two (January 2015)
2. The Terrible Two Get Worse (January 2016)
3. The Terrible Two Go Wild (January 2018)
4. The Terrible Two's Last Laugh (January 2019)

• Mac B., Kid Spy - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Mike Lowery

1. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Undercover (September 2018)
2. Mac B., Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime (December 2018)
3. Mac B., Kid Spy: Top-Secret Smackdown (March 2019)
4. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Cracks the Code (December 2019)
5. Mac B., Kid Spy: The Sound of Danger (September 2020)
6. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Saves the World (May 2021)

Picture books

• Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, illustrated by Adam Rex (Hyperion Books, June 23, 2009)
• Guess Again!, illustrated by Adam Rex (Simon & Schuster, September 15, 2009)
• The Clock without a Face: a Gus Twintig mystery (McSweeney's, April 27, 2010) – "by Scott Teplin, Mac Barnett & Eli Horowitz; plus faces by Adam Rex & numbers by Anna Sheffield" OCLC   460054415, board book LCCN   2011-282077
• Oh No! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World), illustrated by Dan Santat (Hyperion, June 1, 2010)
• Mustache!, illustrated by Kevin Cornell (Hyperion, October 25, 2011)
• Extra Yarn, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray, January 17, 2012)
• Chloe and the Lion, illustrated by Adam Rex (Hyperion, April 3, 2012)
• Oh No, Not Again! (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (Or at Least My History Grade), illustrated by Dan Santat (Hyperion, June 5, 2012)
• Count the Monkeys, illustrated by Kevin Cornell, (Hyperion, June 24, 2012)
• Battle Bunny (S&S, 2013) – "by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett and Alex; pictures by Matthew Myers but mostly Alex." OCLC   804490869, LCCN   2012-25515
• President Taft is Stuck in the Bath, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press, 2014) LCCN   2013-943103
• Sam and Dave Dig a Hole , illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press, Oct 2014) LCCN   2013-955959
• Telephone, illustrated by Jen Corace (Chronicle Books, September 2014) LCCN   2013-40706
• Rules of the House, illustrated by Matthew Myers (Hyperion, Apr 2015) LCCN   2014-15780
• The Skunk, illustrated by Patrick McDonnell (Roaring Book Press, Apr 2015)
• Leo: A Ghost Story , illustrated by Christian Robinson
• How This Book Was Made, illustrated by Adam Rex (Disney-Hyperion, Sep 2016)
• The Magic Word, illustrated by Elise Parsley
• Noisy Night, illustrated by Brian Biggs
• Triangle, illustrated by Jon Klassen
• Square, illustrated by Jon Klassen
• Circle, illustrated by Jon Klassen
• Places to Be, illustrated by Renata Liwska
• I Love You Like a Pig, illustrated by Greg Pizzoli
• The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse, illustrated by Jon Klassen
• A Polar Bear in the Snow, illustrated by Shawn Harris
• What Is Love? , illustrated by Carson Ellis
• John's Turn, illustrated by Kate Berube
• The Great Zapfino, illustrated by Marla Frazee
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff , Illustrated by Jon Klassen.
• Twenty Questions, illustrated by Christian Robinson
• How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Graphic novels

• The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (Harper Alley, October 2022)
• The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom (Harper Alley, October 2023)
• The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip (Harper Alley, November 2024)

Short fiction

• "Best of Friends", Funny Business (Guys Read, 1), ed. Jon Scieszka (NY: Walden Pond Press, 2010) OCLC   758985737

Awards

• 2013 Winner, E. B. White Read Aloud Award
• 2013 Honor, Caldecott Medal ^[9]
• 2015 Winner, E.B. White Read Aloud Award
• 2015 Honor, Caldecott Medal ^[9]
• 2015 Winner, Irma Black Award ^[10]
• 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" ^[11]

References

1. Berry, Michael (2018-05-28). "YA Author Mac Barnett Releases Three Books This Year". www.oaklandmagazine.com. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
2. "The quirky lives of childrens'[sic] book writers – Part 1". Ratna Kamath. Bookshelf. October 12, 2011. Pomona College. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
3. "E. B. White Read Aloud Award Winners". the American Booksellers Association. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
4. "ABA Announces 2015 Indies Choice and E.B. White Award Winners". the American Booksellers Association. 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
5. Lodge |, Sally. "Mac Barnett Spearheads 'A Picture Book Manifesto'". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
6. "Mac Barnett: La Porta Segreta an interview with Nikki Gamble".
7. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2025/02/mac-barnett-named-new-national-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature/
8. Mac Barnett (macbarnett.com): About; Brixton Brothers. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
9. admin (1999-11-30). "Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938-Present". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). Retrieved 2017-12-30.
10. "Past Winners (Irma Black Award)". www.bankstreet.edu. Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
11. "Die Sieger des Deutschen Jugendliteraturpreises 2020". jugendliteratur.org. Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur. Retrieved October 16, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• The Picture Book Proclamation
• Interview of Barnett and illustrator Adam Rex
• Mac Barnett at Library of Congress , with 19library catalog records
• Inauguration of 9th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature: Mac Barnett - Library of Congress