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Health & Fitness

Children's Book Author Mac Barnett Answers Some Librarian's Questions

Come and meet Mac Barnett! Sunday, April 14th, 2013 at 2:00PM! At the Burlingame Public Library, 480 Primrose Road, Burlingame, CA 94010. BOOKS INC. will be selling copies of Mac's books.

Before award winning children's book author, Mac Barnett arrives at the Burlingame Public Library to read and sign his books, he agreed to answer some very silly questions.  These questions were not all thought up by me.  It took a committee of librarians to think of them all.  And anyone who knows anything about librarians will not be surprised by that.  Not at all.  Why? Librarians LOVE committees.  Almost as much as they love books.

But enough about librarians.  Here is what Mac Barnett had to say for himself-

 

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JOHN PICHE'Mac Barnett, did you always want to write books or did you think you would be something else when you grew up?

MAC BARNETT:  In college I was planning on being a medievalist, reading old books and growing a large beard. I still read a lot of old books, but my facial hair maxes out at "heavy stubble."

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 JP:  How do you get matched up with the artists who draw your books?  Seems like you had a lot of trouble with them in CHLOE AND THE LION.  I mean A LOT of trouble.

MB:  I assume your referring to the fact that in CHLOE AND THE LION, the illustrator, Adam Rex, develops his own ideas for the story, which I why I end up letting a lion swallow him whole. I will just emphasize that the only person having any trouble was Adam, and that he was having trouble listening, to me, the author, which is his job. The lion also probably had some troubles, mostly digestive, because I imagine Adam tastes terrible.

JP:  Libraries and Librarians play a significant role in your first Brixton Brothers mystery. Were libraries important to you when you were a kid? If so, what kinds of books did you like to read?

MB:  Every week my mom took me to the library, and I'd leave with a big stack of books. The Brixton Brothers mysteries were largely inspired by the Hardy Boys books, and it's no coincidence that libraries and librarians feature heavily in The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity. When I was a kid, it was my dream to own every Hardy Boys mystery, but I ended up with only about eight. I read them all, though, because I checked them out from the library.

JP: If you could have two superpowers, what would they be and why?

MB:  Two superpowers? Wow. You know, most libraries would give you only one. Let's see: I'll grab flight, of course, and then I guess I'll take Aquaman's power, the ability to talk to fish. I feel like Aquaman is unfairly maligned. Talking to fish? That's pretty good! Maybe not all that helpful when it comes to crime fighting, but I'd be interested in what they have to say. Plus I'm afraid of cold-water fish and deep-water fish, and maybe we could work some stuff out. 

JP:  Which is more fun to write picture books or mystery books?  Are chapter books really where it is at?

MB:  Is the rumor that chapter books are where it's at? Because picture books are my favorite things to write—I love the interaction between text and imagine. But it would not surprise me to learn that I like hanging out where it's not at.

JP:  What advice would you give to young aspiring writers?

MB:  The key to this job is reading. I spend way more time reading than I do writing. If you want be a writer, read read read.

Pretty interesting, right?  Well it should be!  Hopefully, all this will make you want to attend Mac's reading and book signing at the Burlingame Public Library on Sunday, April 14th, 2013 at 2:00PM!

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