Matt (@mattlibrarian.eurosky.social)

A Martin Amis Moment for Mac Barnett For those who are not familiar, Martin Amis, an award-winning writer of serious books for serious people (adults) said during an interview: _People ask me if I ever thought of writing a children’s book. I say, ‘If I had a serious brain injury, I might well write a children’s book’, but otherwise the idea of being conscious of who you’re directing the story to is anathema to me, because, in my view, fiction is freedom and any restraints on that are intolerable._[source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/11/martin-amis-brain-injury-write-children] When I first heard about Mac’s 94.7 % quote my mind immediately went to Amis’ interview, due to the tone-deafness of the words and the opprobrium that resulted. Imagine my surprise then, that, while reading _Make Believe_ I saw that he referred to the Amis incident in a wonderful footnote in chapter one – _A Grand Unifying Theory of Children’s Literature_. I love footnotes in books; they bring me a lot of joy (and additional information and sometimes humor too). I am a fan of his books and have been for years, _Make Believe_ , his first book for adult readers is thought-provoking, funny and contains truths and observations that closely resemble ones that I have held for years. Read in context, _Barnett’s Addendum to Sturgeon’s Law_ makes more sense than the words shorn of the preceding and following chapters. This is not to say I agree with him on this. I personally would never refer to any book as ‘crud’, as a Librarian and long-time lurker in libraries I have learned that not every book is for every reader. This goes for children’s books as well, because we are all individuals and have differing tastes, and kids learn early what types of stories and formats of books they enjoy. The more I read _Make Believe_ , the madder I got. Not because it is a bad book, but because Mac wrote it with his heart on his sleeve, he is a well-known and beloved author who has worked with some phenomenal illustrators. He makes great points about celebrating children’s literature; as well as the less great books that adults may not always understand but kids love. The thing that made me mad is the fact that his addendum will poison people’s perception of the book and make many less inclined to pick I tup and read it. I have seen several people online trying to push back against what they perceive as dogpiling on Mac Barnett and others who have read the book without knowing who he is or why so many of us are upset. If anyone is interested why there has been such a huge pushback, it is because there is a problem affecting books for young readers – and it is not the books, rather there is a movement dedicated to making sure books by and about certain communities or individuals are kept out of libraries (both school & public), ostensibly to ‘protect’ children but the overarching goal is to control who gets to be reflected in our modern literary canon as one prong of an assault trying to push vulnerable minorities out of public view. Having the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and best-selling author for young readers stand up and say that he fears that 94.7% of kids books are crud gives culture warriors that already have libraries and children’s books in their crosshairs a huge stick to continue to beat us with. It is a massive unforced error, and not only that, but it is also dismissive of most authors who write books for younger readers. I 100% believe that Mac’s intention was not to denigrate children’s books or those what write them, but in life when harm is done, it is not good enough to say he had good intentions but instead to acknowledge that harm has been done and work on remedying it. The School Library Journal has a decent article about his response to the uproar that you can read here: Mac Barnett Responds Amid Continued Backlash In closing I will say that _Make Believe_ is a good (but flawed) book that is worth reading despite the negative publicity around it but I fully understand and support those that choose not to. ### Share this: * Share on X (Opens in new window) X * Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr * Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest * Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit https://teenlibrarian.co.uk/2026/05/08/a-martin-amis-moment-for-mac-barnett/