MAKE BELIEVE

MAKE BELIEVE by Mac Barnett

GREEN LIGHT

AGE: ADULT

Make Believe is the newest release by Mac Barnett. Originally praised for it's thought provoking content, a single line pulled out and posted caused a serious backlash against the current U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. What was the line that caused so much chatter? It was Barnett's expansion of a 1958 quote from science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon was retaliating against the claim that "ninety percent of science fiction is crud" to which Sturgeon responded, "Ninety percent of everything is crud." Barnett took that statement and expanded it a bit, "Maybe more like 94.7 percent of kids' books are crud." Dramatic pause moment!!! As soon as I heard about this, I wanted to read the book immediately! I'm not going to go into my thoughts about this, because I am thinking this book should be our next BOOK CLUB read for a whole host of reasons.

I definitely didn't agree with everything that Barnett wrote in this book, but I did find myself examining my current beliefs on the purpose of books. I really do enjoy a wide range of them, but I often find that a book should have a purpose to it. It's true that I typically use books for experiences or teaching moments. Not always, but often. (You know, Charlotte Mason's "twaddle" argument.) This book has caused me to delve back into my own childhood and think about the books that I loved and how that lines up with the way I choose books today. Like I said, it just may show up as our next Book Club read.