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| photo: Carson Ellis | |
Mac Barnett is the author of many books for children, including Caldecott Honor Books Extra Yarn and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, as well as the Shape Trilogy, all illustrated by Jon Klassen; President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen; and the New York Times bestseller Mac B., Kid Spy: Mac Undercover, illustrated by Mike Lowery. Barnett lives in California.
The premise of Just Because reminds me of a certain comic-strip father who would give absurd and outlandish answers to everyday questions from his stuffed-tiger-loving son. Where did you get your inspiration for Just Because?
I'd forgotten about those strips with Calvin's dad! Calvin and Hobbes was so important to my childhood, it may indeed have been a spice in the primordial soup from which Just Because sprang. But this story owes more to Arkady Leokum than Bill Watterson: I loved big books of scientific questions when I was a kid, but my mind tended to stray toward the fantastic. It still does.
When writing this book, what did you start with: question or answer?
I started with the questions, a long, long list of questions, which, like the dad in this book, I tried to answer, moving things around until I had a shape I liked.
Did you specifically set out to write something soft and quiet?
I think this book has an intimate tone, dream logic and reassuring rhythms, but it also has erupting volcanoes, a T-Rex in space and fish playing guitars. There are certainly books that are particularly good for a classroom full of kids, and books that are meant to put kids to sleep. I've written books that I definitely would not read to a kid at bedtime. But I think most of my picture books make for a good nighttime read. And even though the story in Just Because takes place at bedtime, I'd happily share it with a gymnasium full of first-graders.
It feels like we're seeing a new Mac Barnett book every year. How are you maintaining that pace? What is it like to have a seemingly inexhaustible repository of ideas?
Lots of my job as a writer is sitting around my house not writing. This stuff doesn't come easily to me, or quickly--most days I feel frustrated with myself for not getting anything done. I'm surprised when I look at the calendar and see I have books coming out. I don't really know how it happens.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell Shelf readers?
I've been saying for almost 10 years that if I could work with any illustrator in the world, it would be Isabelle Arsenault. I can't believe I actually get to.