Mac Barnett: Make Believe

This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by Apr. 24 to request.

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For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]

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A book for adults about books for children, a rallying cry for art and imagination, and a celebration of the power of storytelling in all our lives.

Make Believe is bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett’s incisive, intimate, and timely invitation to approach children’s literature not only as an art form worthy of deep study and criticism, but as a portal into the lives of the children. And at a time when we are faced with a national literacy crisis, he champions the profound joys of literature and the importance of reading for pleasure.

What if children are a great audience for art?

What if they are in fact better equipped to engage deeply with stories than adults?

What if humans’ ability to appreciate art is, if not innate, awakened early in childhood?

Well, then we’d better do our best to make some good kids’ books.
Written with humor and academic rigor, Make Believe reads like a letter from your smartest and funniest friend.

Photo credit: Chris Black

Mac Barnett is the ninth U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader. He’s a New York Times-bestselling author of stories for children and the writer, with Jon Klassen, of Looking at Picture Books, a newsletter for adults about how picture books work. Barnett’s work has been translated into more than 30 languages and sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. His books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Awards, three E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Germany’s Jugendliteraturpreis, China’s Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award, The Netherlands’ Silver Griffel, and Italy’s Premio Orbil. He lives in Oakland, California.

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