Children’s book author Mac Barnett has been appointed the 2025–2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Barnett becomes the ninth author to step into the role, and takes the reins from Meg Medina, who served as National Ambassador from 2023 through 2024. The position was created in 2008 by the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader to emphasize the importance of developing lifelong literacy in children and teens.

Barnett is the author of more than 60 books for young readers—including Extra Yarn and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole—and has won three E.B. White Read Aloud Awards and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, among other accolades.

During his two-year term, Barnett plans to focus on what he called “a unique and marvelous way of telling stories: the children’s picture book” choosing as his platform, “Behold, the Picture Book! Let’s Celebrate Stories We Can Feel, Hear, and See.” Barnett is the first National Ambassador to primarily spotlight this format and has been a vocal and active advocate for the art form throughout his career. In 2011, he wrote “A Picture Book Manifesto,” cosigned by 21 additional picture book creators, a challenge to authors, illustrators and the publishing industry to strive for robust creativity and originality in the category. Fittingly, Barnett’s platform logo was created by author-illustrator Christian Robinson, who illustrated Barnett’s books Twenty Questions and Leo: A Ghost Story.

We spoke with Barnett in more detail about his new appointment, below.

What was your reaction when you learned that you had been selected as the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature?

I was overwhelmed. Completely flooded. I’ve devoted pretty much my whole adult life to writing children’s books (and as a kid, I read them). I can’t imagine a more meaningful recognition. I found out on a Zoom with my publisher—some of the people on that call I’ve known for a long time—and I know I must have really been going through it because they said, “Hold on, your face, we’ve got to get a screenshot.”

Can you tell us about your platform, and how you chose it?

My platform is called—and you can’t hear this but before I type the end of this sentence I am letting out a blast on a trumpet I store underneath my desk—“Behold, the Picture Book!” Picture books are a unique and powerful art form, and one that’s original to children’s literature. Picture books are also often trivialized, or misunderstood—and that’s because children are often trivialized or misunderstood. So: I want to talk about picture books. I’ll talk to kids and adults about how picture books work, and why reading them can be so powerful. And I will proudly proclaim the picture book’s rightful place among the best American literature.

What books and authors inspired you as a kid?

I loved books when I was a kid, but I was fuzzy on the concept of authors. Nobody in my family was an author. Nobody from my town was an author. An author never visited my school. Writers were people who were dead, or came from somewhere else, or both. I didn’t really think much about the people whose books I loved. I just loved the books. Two possible exceptions were Maurice Sendak and James Marshall, mostly because they had a strong visual style that I loved—but I think there was a sensibility or point of view that I recognized across their works, that sense of communion with a fellow consciousness that makes reading so powerful. But the way that played out was, like, seeing a James Marshall drawing on a book cover and thinking, “Oh yeah, this one is gonna be funny.”

What’s the best way to grab the attention of young readers these days?

I understand that we live in a time full of new, powerful, and often cynically conceived technologies engineered to consume our children’s—and our own—attention, but also: there’s always been a lot of demands on kids’ attention. You can’t lecture, argue, or cajole someone into loving reading. As an author, all I can really do is try to write a good story. To be honest. To be interesting. To use the particular powers of language to communicate something authentic and recognizable to kids. And maybe throw in some jokes.

As far as our particular technological moment goes, I have far more faith in children’s attention spans than adults’.

What kinds of things have you found to be effective for school visits and other events/presentations?

I love telling stories out loud to kids—it’s how I figured out I wanted to write books for them. And so I feel lucky that I’ve gotten to spend so much of my career in schools, sharing books with students. I hope the teachers see my visits as “effective,” because I’m grateful that they’re giving me some of their very valuable instructional time—but that’s not really a word I apply to my visits. I love talking to kids. I feel like I’m my best self—more patient, more present, more alive—when sharing books with a bunch of kids. If my phone buzzes in my back pocket while I’m doing a school visit, I have zero urge to look at it. Can you imagine!

It may seem like my job is to show up and talk, but a big part of what I have to do is listen, in some deep and intuitive way, to the whole room, and then make subtle adjustments in the way I tell the story. It gets at something I love about picture books generally. With picture books, the “artwork” isn’t the object, the book itself—it’s the read-aloud, the performance that an individual adult will give for a child, or a group of children. It’s ephemeral, tailored especially for that audience. How beautiful, how generous.

Do you have any special programming planned for your ambassador events?

“Ambassador” is a weighty word, and it’s interesting to see the many ways my predecessors have interpreted it. Jason Reynolds encouraged kids to tell their own stories and, in his words, “become their own ambassadors.” Jon Scieszka told Brooklyn parking enforcement that he had diplomatic immunity.

I see myself, in part, as an ambassador from the world of children’s literature to the larger literary culture—a culture that often overlooks kids’ books. And so I want to show up in places where picture books aren’t usually discussed and celebrate this vibrant art form—and the brilliant kids we write for.

Have you picked up any tips from how the previous ambassadors have approached the role?

One of the first things I did was get on the phone with Meg Medina. I had a long list of very specific questions for her, and she patiently answered each one, and after our call I just reclined on the couch and felt very grateful. It means a ton to be in this lineage of writers I admire. I mean, Jon Scieszka is the reason I write picture books. And I was staying at his house in Brooklyn—a young writer with zero books out yet—when he got the news that he was going to be the first ambassador, which he probably shouldn’t have told me.

What are you currently working on? And what might it look like to balance your typical work schedule with your new responsibilities?

Right now, I’m writing the fourth book in the First Cat in Space series, my graphic novels with Shawn Harris, and Jon Klassen and I have a newish newsletter, “Looking at Picture Books,” where we talk regularly about how picture books work. But your question is a good one: how will I balance writing with my ambassadorial duties? I have no idea. I have absolutely no idea. I bought a big wall calendar. That’ll probably fix everything.

Barnett’s livestreamed inauguration ceremony, officiated by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, is set for Thursday, February 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. with former National Ambassador Medina and local school groups in attendance. That evening, the public is invited to the Thomas Jefferson Building at 6:30 p.m. to meet Barnett at a “Storytime for Grown Ups” event also featuring author illustrators Cece Bell and Raúl the Third, and 2008–2009 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jon Scieszka, who will be sharing and discussing picture books.

The Librarian of Congress selects the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature based on recommendations from children’s book industry professionals and a selection committee of educators, librarians, booksellers, and other specialists in children’s literature. “I’m excited for Mac Barnett’s tenure as the National Ambassador,” Hayden said in a statement. “The way he elevates the picture book with originality and intentionality, making space for young readers to embrace the unknown, is magical. I often mention the joy of seeing myself for the first time in Bright April by Marguerite De Angeli, a book about a young African American girl celebrating her 10th birthday. I look forward to the many joyous ways Mac will use picture books to inspire connections within our communities.”

Barnett will indeed be visiting with a variety of communities, as a key component of the National Ambassador’s work is sharing their platform at events with children and families around the country. Schools, libraries, and community groups that wish to host Barnett in 2025 can submit proposals until the March 3 deadline.