The Coronado Public Library recently hosted author Mac Barnett, the 2025-2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. As part of the “Behold, the Picture Book!” theme that Barnett has chosen as his focus in his role as Ambassador, he read aloud from a selection of books and spoke to the joys and importance of picture books.

Barnett found his calling as a storyteller early on, when he enjoyed crafting his own tales of adventure as a kid. It wasn’t until his college years that he felt the pull to write for children. “I studied literature and I loved it, but I had my summers off and worked at a summer camp for four to six-year-olds,” he recalled. “I was put in charge of the four-year-olds, and I don’t really play sports…and neither do four-year-olds. So I would tell them stories.

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