Mac Barnett to Visit Maine! IRW & the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett will Visit Maine this Spring!
IRW was overjoyed this winter when we learned that we had been chosen as one of just five organizations in the country to host National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (NAYPL), Mac Barnett! Apart from being big fan’s of Mac’s work, we were honored to know that we are the only East Coast stop on the NAYPL tour this year. Mac’s nationwide tour engages readers through his initiative, Behold, The Picture Book! Let’s Celebrate Stories We Can Feel, Hear, and See—a topic we couldn’t be more delighted to take part in.
During his visit, Mac will share his passion for picture books and invite children and adults alike to join him in celebrating what’s vibrant, joyful and inspiring about this quintessential—and highly participatory—American art form. He’ll also showcase the deeply impactful ways picture books blend words and illustrations, and even the turning of a page, to create a uniquely powerful reading experience.
“Picture books are a beautiful, sophisticated and vibrant art form, the source of some of the most profound reading experiences in children’s (and adults’) lives,” said Barnett. “What excites me is the living, thinking, feeling kid who exists right now and needs a good story. Magic is what happens at that moment in childhood.”
Wait, who is Mac Barnett?!
Mac Barnett, a New York Times–bestselling author of stories for children, is the ninth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages and sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. Barnett’s 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 is the co-creator, with Jon Klassen, of “Shape Island,” a stop-motion animated series on Apple TV+, based on their best-selling Shapes series of picture books. Barnett lives in Oakland, California.
What is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature?
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is an initiative of the Library of Congress, in partnership with Every Child a Reader, with generous support from The Library of Congress James Madison Council. The program was established in 2008 by the Library, the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader to emphasize the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. The National Ambassador is an advocate for reading across the country.
