Substack on Film: Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Mac Barnett

and

Jon Klassen

are friends. They’re also award-winning children’s-book authors and illustrators who, when they aren’t creating their own modern classics, write

Looking at Picture Books

, a Substack that does precisely what it says: looks closely at great picture books to see what makes them tick. What makes Goodnight Moon such a classic? Why does that illustration of Frog and Toad make us laugh?

The better a work of art is, the more we want to climb around in it, take it apart, figure out exactly how it works—how it makes us think, or laugh, or feel. And our curiosity extends to the creators too. Who are they? What inspires them?

Substack on Film is a new series inspired by that curiosity. These vignettes capture writers and creators in their natural environment—at their homes, in their neighborhoods, hanging out at their local haunts. Directed and shot by

Nathan Zack

on 16mm film, the videos have a timeless quality that feels both playful and intimate.

For our first film in the series, we visited Mac and Jon at Mac’s home in Oakland, California. We captured them doing what they often do: sitting together and poring over a classic picture book. Birds chirp in the background, pages turn softly, and Henry the dog ambles by now and again.