Mac Barnett


Mac Barnett is an American writer of children's books living in Oakland, California. He grew up in Castro Valley, California and Oakland.
Barnett graduated from Pomona College, where he studied under the writer David Foster Wallace.
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. 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.
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.
In 2024, Barnett wrote La Porta Segreta, a book for adults about children's books, published in Italian by Terre di Mezzo.
In February 2025, Barnett was inaugurated at the Library of Congress as the 2025-6 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
WWW Official Site𝕏 macbarnett

Works

Essays

La Porta Segreta - Cover by Carson Ellis Make Believe - Cover by Carson Ellis

Novels

The Brixton Brothers - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Adam Rex and Matthew Myers
  1. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity.
  2. The Ghostwriter Secret.
  3. It Happened on a Train.
  4. Danger Goes Berserk, illus. Matthew Myers. The Terrible Two - By Mac Barnett and Jory John, with illustrations by Kevin Cornell
  5. The Terrible Two.
  6. The Terrible Two Get Worse.
  7. The Terrible Two Go Wild.
  8. The Terrible Two's Last Laugh. Mac B., Kid Spy - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Mike Lowery
  9. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Undercover .
  10. Mac B., Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime .
  11. Mac B., Kid Spy: Top-Secret Smackdown .
  12. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Cracks the Code .
  13. Mac B., Kid Spy: The Sound of Danger .
  14. Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Saves the World .

Picture books

The Shapes Trilogy - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen
  • * Triangle.
  • * Square.
  • * Circle. A Jack Book - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Greg Pizzoli
  1. Hi, Jack!.
  2. Jack Blasts Off!.
  3. Jack at Bat!.
  4. Jack Goes West.
  5. Jack at the Zoo.
  6. Too Many Jacks.
  7. Jack and Santa.
  8. Jack Gets Zapped!. Now I See books - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen

Graphic novels

The First Cat in Space - By Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Shawn Harris
  1. The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza.
  2. The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom.
  3. The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip.
  4. The First Cat in Space and the Baby Pirate’s Revenge.

Short fiction

  • "Best of Friends", Funny Business, ed. Jon Scieszka.

Awards