North Melbourne Books April Newsletter - featuring Mac Barnett

In the April edition of the North Melbourne Books Newsletter we talk to children's author Mac Barnett. He is the co-author, with Jory John, of the hilariously funny The Terrible Two books.

In this brilliant follow-up, The Terrible Two Get Worse sees serial pranksters Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks plot some of their most daring pranks to date. But when they target Principal Barry Barkin, there is an unexpected outcome. With great dialogue, inventive set pieces and brilliant characters that you’ll love, The Terrible Two Get Worse only gets better.


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North Melbourne Books Talks to Mac Barnett

 Author photo by Sonya Sones

North Melbourne Books: In The Terrible Two and The Terrible Two Get Worse we meet serial pranksters Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks. While they cause much mayhem at their school, Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy, they only use their pranking prowess to fight bullies and injustice. How did the idea for the story come to you?

Mac Barnett: Most of being a writer is sitting around at your house, not writing. My friend Jory John is a writer too, and once a week he'd come over to my place, and we'd sit there not writing together. We talked about books we were working on, books we were reading, and books we'd loved as kids. It turned out we both grew up on books about pranksters. I loved all of Dahl and especially Matilda. Jory was a big fan of the great brain series. And so pretty soon he was coming over and we were actually getting some writing done, working together on a book about a pair of pranksters.

NMB: Niles Sparks is an especially fun character. He’s a nerdy kiss-up to teachers, every ready to be helpful, and even goes so far as to wear a sash that reads “School Helper”. But this is all a cover for his secret pranking activities. Did you ever want to be like Niles when you were at school, leading this type of delicious double life?

MB: I sort of did, accidentally. For years I was too scared to pull a prank at school, but I was always planning them. Eventually I earned a reputation for good behavior, and so when I broke bad, nobody suspected me.

NMB: There are some truly amazing pranks in The Terrible Two books. Do you have a secret pranking lab at home where you road test the pranks for authenticity and guaranteed laughs? Where do all the ideas for the pranks come from?

MB: Pranksters spend a lot of time thinking about their targets: they know their habits, their blind spots, their greatest hopes and their darkest fears. Novelists know the same stuff about their characters. We spend a lot of time thinking about the people who live inside our books, and then we figure out how to embarrass them.

NMB: It has to be asked. Did you ever pull pranks yourself at school? Confess!

MB: The prank that ends The Terrible Two did actually happen at my high school. But nobody knows who did it. Or at least nobody is saying.

NMB: What books are you enjoying reading at the moment?

MB: I just finished The Known World by Edward P. Jones, one of the best books I've read in a very long time. I'm about to start An Imaginary Life by David Malouf—honest, I'm not just kissing up to you Australians! And I'm in the middle of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, research for The Terrible Two 3.

The Terrible Two Get Worse, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Published by Abrams. RRP: $14.99

The Terrible Two Get Worse, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell

Staff review by Chris Saliba

Serial pranksters Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks are back in this fun filled sequel to The Terrible Two.

Readers of the original The Terrible Two will recall pranking geniuses Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks. In their secret prank lab, they came up with the most ingenious pranks, all unleashed on their school, Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy. They targeted bullies and unfair principals, using their pranks as a force for good. Cleverly, Niles Sparks concealed his true identity as school prankster by playing the role of “kiss up” to teachers and Principal Barry Barkin. He even wore a sash with “School Helper” printed on it. Miles Murphy, as a new student, had a pretty good cover in being the clueless new kid. Who would suspect him as being one half of a mastermind pranking team?

In The Terrible Two Get Worse, it’s a new year and Miles and Niles are already plotting some of their most daring pranks. Their target is bully Principal Barry Barkin. All goes well for Miles and Niles until one of their pranks unwittingly sees Principal Barkin fired. You would think this a good thing. There’s just one problem: his replacement is ten times worse. With some clever politicking, Barry Barkin’s father, Bertrand Barkin, a former principal himself, has managed to have himself installed as acting principal. Can Miles and Niles get Barry Barkin, who has descended into a type of madness by taking up craft projects, back in the principal’s seat?

The second installment of The Terrible Two is even funnier than the first, with Kevin Cornell’s hilarious illustrations keeping the good times rolling. While the subject matter is all completely bonkers, Jory John and Mac Barnett write with superb comic timing and aplomb. They know how to work up a gag and deliver a punchline. Great dialogue, inventive set pieces, brilliant characters that you’ll love, The Terrible Two Get Worse only gets better.

The Terrible Two Get Worse, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Published by Abrams. ISBN:  9781419719257  RRP: $14.99

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The Terrible Two, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell

Staff review by Chris Saliba

In this terrifically fun book, two school pranksters use their talents to outwit the school bully.

In Salvador Dali’s mercurial autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, there’s a section where he outlines the most extraordinary idea for a prank. It’s his dream to cause havoc and mayhem on the continent of Europe. This is the plan: he will strategically place a huge bread roll in every major European city, at culturally important locations. Then week after week, he will replace these huge bread rolls with even bigger rolls. Eventually these disconcerting bread rolls will reach gargantuan proportions, threatening to overwhelm cities. Panic sets in and mayhem follows. All of Europe is terrorised by out of control bread rolls.

In much the same vein, the two school pranksters in The Terrible Two, Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks, go about their mischievious work.

Miles Murphy has moved to Yawnee Valley. It’s a cow town, full of dairy farms (the town’s welcoming sign says “Come Look at Our Cows”). Cows delightfully moo away at all hours in the background. When Miles starts at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy, he thinks he’ll lead the way as the school’s top prankster. But he has a rival, a secret agent prankster that no one knows about.

On day one Miles is alerted to this fact when someone parks Principal Barkin’s car in the entrance of the school, thereby blocking everyone’s entrance. Principal Barkin is the ogre of the story. He comes from a long line of Barkins who have been school principals. There is also Barkin’s son, Josh, who is the school bully and class president (he calls everyone “nimbus”). Because his father is principal, the election of class president is always rigged. The blowsy student Holly Rash always puts her name forward to challenge Josh for class president in the name of democracy, even though she knows she’ll lose.

After being outsmarted by the school’s mysterious master prankster on several occasions, Miles finds out who he is: Niles Sparks, the impossibly perfect goody two shoes who wears a sash that says “School Helper”. Niles appears to kiss up to everyone in sight, but this is his way of making sure no one suspects him of being the school’s top prankster.

Miles and Niles team up to pull off the master of all pranks, bringing down principal Barkin and his son Josh in a series of clever moves. School democracy is restored and Holly Rash can run for school president in a fair race.

The Terrible Two is loads of fun. The illustrations by Kevin Cornell recall the zaniest moments of Mad Magazine and are good value just in themselves. Jory John and Mac Barnett keep the text chugging along with enough madcap doings to make this book a fun caper where the bad get their just deserts and the pranksters win the day.

For ages 9 - 12 years old. 

The Terrible Two, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Published by Abrams. ISBN: 9781419714917 RRP: $17.99

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