In a lot of ways, it's never been harder to convince kids to pick up a book over a phone or iPad. But worrying about declining literacy rates and reading test scores – that's adults' business. And Mac Barnett doesn't like to think of kids as future adults.
"We're never going to win the argument that you should read a book because it's good for you," he said. "This isn't why kids read."
Barnett is the Library of Congress' newest National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The position was established in 2008 to promote books and reading to kids across the country. Other authors who've held the post include Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds and Meg Medina. It's a 2-year term and everyone who does it gets to pick a different focus. Barnett's plan is to focus on picture books.
"The picture book is my favorite art form," he said. "It's such an incredible, vibrant, exciting, forward-looking, experimental art form. And I think it's really undervalued, too."
Barnett has written more than 60 books for kids – chapter books, graphic novels and picture books. He, and illustrator Jon Klassen, created the popular shapes trilogy, which was adapted into a series on Apple TV+. But Barnett says the picture book form doesn't get the same respect as other types of books – which he finds offensive.
"Because we're dismissing kids," he said. "And if we think that children's books are anything less than real literature, it's because we think kids are something less than real people. If we believe they're real people, then they deserve good art."
The type of literature Barnett champions for kids isn't didactic. It isn't an adult trying to teach a kid yet another lesson. It isn't a book as a "vector for an educational tool," he said. "It's our job to make books that kids want to read."
And that same philosophy extends to how kids choose what they want to read. "Growing up, my mom would take me to the library every week. And she would let me pick out whatever books I wanted to read. It doesn't mean that she agreed with every book. My mom is a very opinionated woman. And if she didn't like what I was reading, she would talk to me about it."
In Barnett's view, if we are to really respect the taste and intelligence of kids, we should also be venerating their art as highly as any other literature. He'd put books such as Frog and Toad, In the Night Kitchen, Where the Wild Things Are and Freight Train up there in the annals of literature right next to The Great Gatsby.
"I think Goodnight Moon is one of the great pieces of American literature of the 20th century," he said.
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