Tom Nancy - by Mac Barnett (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From two of the most acclaimed and beloved picture book makers today, Mac Barnett and X. Fang, comes a hilarious trickster tale like no other. A sneaky sheep has a proposal for an innocent boy that will change both of their lives forever: a brain swap!

Farmer's son Felix knows that Tom Nancy is a clever little sheep. Still, Felix is surprised to learn that not only can this sheep talk, he also has a marvelous machine stowed away in the barn that will allow them to switch brains for the day. Felix agrees to Tom Nancy's idea of a swap, and it works! Felix finds that life in the pasture as a sheep is interesting. But Tom Nancy discovers that being a boy who wrestles and eats sandwiches is simply stupendous! So when Felix tells him he's ready to switch back, Tom Nancy has another idea . . .

A deliciously subversive story that delivers some just deserts, Tom Nancy will have readers of all ages laughing out loud and on the edge of their seats.

Review Quotes

A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Children's Book of 2026

"Barnett's text begs to be read to large groups, thanks to Tom Nancy's outsize personality; this delightful read-aloud will elicit true gasps of surprise at the climax. Attend the tale of a nefarious woolly con artist, and prepare for laughs galore." --STAREED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

"There's no woolgathering in this wickedly funny farm fable . . . . It's a comeuppance tale with bite to spare, and an ending ewe won't see coming." --Publishers Weekly

"So good. It's one of those rare books where the author and the illustrator really seem to be egging each other on in regards to who can be more funny." --K-Fai Steele, author and illustrator of A Normal Pig and All Eyes on Ozzy!

About the Author

MAC BARNETT, the 2025-2026 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, is a New York Times-bestselling author of stories for children. Mac's books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book Awards, three E. B. White Read Aloud Awards and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, as well as several international prizes. He lives in Oakland, California.

X. FANG is a Taiwanese-American illustrator. Her picture books include Broken, a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book Award winner; We Are Definitely Human, recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award; and her debut picture book, Dim Sum Palace, which won the Society of Illustrators' Dilys Evans Founder's Award and was named one of Slate's 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years, among other honors. She lives in Midcoast Maine.