The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Sarah Jacoby

In forty-two inspired pages, this biography artfully plays with form and language to vividly bring to life one of greatest children’s book creators who ever lived: Margaret Wise Brown.

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019

Sarah Jacoby’s Margaret Wise Brown Research Blog

“I love this book like life itself.”

Ann Patchett

“Groundbreaking.”

School Library Journal

, Starred Review

“Brave.”

Booklist

, Starred Review

“The important thing about this review is to say this picture book is great. Here and now, we say to Barnett and Jacoby: We SEE what you’ve done. You’ve paid tribute to a woman who changed picture books. Forever. You’ve acknowledged her queerness, telling readers she fell in love ‘with a woman called Michael and a man called Pebble.’ You’ve honored her words with references to such titles as Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, The Little Fur Family, and more…”

Kirkus Reviews

, Starred Review

“Barnett’s confiding tone draws readers in… then makes the case for Brown’s work.”

Publishers Weekly

, Starred Review

“It’s now clear that the librarian bunny and Mac Barnett share a common passion: advocacy for children’s free access to books…”

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

, Starred Review

“Barnett’s assertion that it is important for children’s books to reflect the things children think of and do, is never more pressing than it is in troubled times.”

Bustle

Cover of The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown, a children's book by Mac Barnett.