After 28 Years, Author Mac Barnett Returns to Fairyland

By C.J. Hirschfield

“He is a believer that picture books can have Swiftian absurdity and untidy endings, and that ‘life is absurd, and kids know that.’”
— San Francisco Chronicle

Before he was a New York Times bestselling author, before more than 1 million copies of his books were sold in the U.S. and translated into more than 30 languages, and before his two Caldecott Honor–winning books, there was … Fairyland.

Young Mac Barnett as Peter Pan with Captain Hook (Edward Hightower) and Major Catastrophe (Carol Becksted)

Yes, Mac Barnett, the renowned author of 15 children’s books, was a Fairyland Personality when he was a youth. We’re delighted that he will join us for our Turn the Page! children’s book festival on May 19. And we like to think that the imaginary world he inhaled at our special park inspired his later fiction.

Mac lives in Oakland and grew up here; he played Peter Pan at Fairyland in 1990. Randal Metz, our master puppeteer, remembers him well. “Mac was always being theatrical around the park,” he recalls. “He loved inviting the children to be part of Peter’s swashbuckling adventures.”

Mac Barnett as a book-loving toddler

Mac’s very first book, published in 2009, was Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem. It tells the story of a kid who gets a blue whale as a pet, only to learn it’s a punishment and it ruins his life.

Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, illustrated by Adam Rex

Hmmm. Blue whale. Fairyland has one of those. Coincidence, or drawn from the memory of the boy who once played Peter Pan at a little park in Oakland, his home town—and never grew up?

Extra Yarn (2012) and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole (2017) are two of Mac’s best-known books. The Wall Street Journal said Extra Yarn “possesses the qualities of the old-fashioned magical realism that you find in the most enduring nursery books.” Kirkus gave Sam and Dave a starred review that included this passage: “When Sam and Dave dig a hole, readers get ‘something spectacular.’ The boys, on the other hand, do not. Their quest to find the spectacular brings them painfully and humorously close to buried jewels as they spade their way into the ground, accompanied by an intrepid canine companion. ... Poor Sam and Dave. Lucky readers.”

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, illustrated by Jon Klassen

In 2014, Mac delivered a TEDx talk in Sonoma County, “Why a Good Book Is a Secret Door.” (We have a few secret doors in Fairyland, too!) Many of the things he said resonate with us here at Fairyland.

On fiction: “We know these characters aren't real, but we have real feelings about them, and we're able to do that. We know these characters aren't real, and yet we also know that they are.” You might be amazed to know how often we have to repaint our Snow White’s face, because kids love cozying up to her during their conversations.

On wonder: “It's what Coleridge called the willing suspension of disbelief or poetic faith, for those moments where a story, no matter how strange, has some semblance of the truth, and then you're able to believe it. It's not just kids who can get there. Adults can too, and we get there when we read.” To illustrate his point, he references the hordes of visitors to Baker Street in London to see the home of Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character. 

Mac Barnett today

“My job is that I lie to children. But they’re honest lies,” he assures us.

Turn the Page!, our third annual Bay Area children’s author and illustrator event, takes place May 19 at Fairyland. All the festivities -- author talks, illustrator demonstrations, bookmaking crafts, book sales -- are included with park admission ($10 general, free for Fairyland members). Don’t be shy – introduce yourself to Mac and your other favorite authors and illustrators and ask them to sign your copies of their books!

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 15 years as executive director of Children's Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation's oldest storybook theme park.