TED Talk: Why a Good Book is a Secret Door

Mac Barnett, a children's book author, delivered this TED talk in 2014 about the importance of fiction and imagination in a child's life. He begins his talk with an interesting first line that immediately grabs the attention of the audience. He introduces himself as a man with a career that involves lying to children. This opening statement successfully hooks the audience and sets the whole tone for the rest of the TED talk. He then begins explaining his main point he will be presenting throughout the entirety of his speech which is that it is very important to find truth in art, especially as a child. This TED talk is very entertaining due to Mac's comfort in front of a crowd. He constantly engages the audience in laughter with his colorful stories about working with kids as a camp counselor. During his time working at this summer camp, Mac entertained the children with his whimsical stories of his time spent spying for the Queen of England and other imaginary adventures he has embarked on. Mac truly believes in helping children find some truth in fiction that he even went as far to stash a cantaloupe in a garden to follow through with some of his stories. 

                  Above is a quote Mac used to introduce his main idea of the potential truth that can be found in art. 

My favorite part of this TED talk though were Mac's stories about his interest in secret doors and how he managed to incorporate these entrances to other worlds into his career. He is very passionate about tutoring children and assisting them with their reading skills so it only makes sense that he continued on into a career surrounding these interests. The first place he worked at was a pirate souvenir shop that led into a tutoring program through a "secret door". Mac described some of the merchandise to further emphasize this idea of an imaginary world. He explained the importance of having children walk through this whimsical setting on their way to study sessions because it really opens their minds to the idea that anything is possible. Reading fiction and telling stories about imaginary worlds allows children to express themselves by escaping into another life while still having a way to find truth in the lies. 

I chose this TED Talk because it discussed some of the similar interests as the Carnegie Center. This talk expressed the importance of books in a child's life which is something the Carnegie Center really focuses on with their work. The Carnegie Center offers similar services to those Mac describes in his talk which really caught my attention when I was listening. Both are equally interested in educating children in the importance of reading and engaging their imaginations whenever possible.


Mac did a wonderful job of connecting with his audience and conveying his idea in a practical, entertaining way. He was very comfortable in the crowd and confidently delivered his message. Although it was a rather long one, I thoroughly enjoyed this TED Talk.

TED Talk Analysis

This TED Talk was given by Geoffrey Canada and focuses on how we can improve our education system. It was delivered in May 2013 at a TED Talk Conference and was delivered in order to inform the audience about the issues with the current education system and to persuade the audience that the design of the education system is currently flawed and that major changes are needed to correct the problem. One of the missions of the Carnegie Center is to help underprivileged children and adults improve their literacy and critical thinking abilities, so I thought that this TED Talk had a relevant link to my service learning organization. He was a very effective speaker.  He incorporated humor well in his talk and also immediately established the relevancy of his topic by appealing to the audience’s emotions. He appealed to their emotions by talking about how the system effectively guarantees children with poor financial background to fail. 

Geoffrey Canada has worked to improve the Harlem Education district for years and has seen firsthand the issues stemming from the current system. He urges the government to review its education system and see what it can do to serve the students more effectively.

He expected the audience to have a reasonable amount of knowledge about the current education system. He uses extended similes and metaphors for the education system (such as comparing the system to a farm that plants its crops at the wrong time) to help the audience understand the logic that he is using. He berates the government for employing the same basic school system as was in place nearly 50 years ago, saying, “If it did not work then, why would it work now?”. Using these similes helps members of the audience who may not know as much about the system understand the faults he sees in the system. 

He was also very animated in terms of nonverbal communication, displaying energy and urgency in his gesticulations and near-constant pacing to show the urgency of the matter. He says we have “run out of time” to delay changing the system and that we are approaching an “education cliff” due to the current system. He proposes that we change the calendar that schools tend to use (August-May) to a year-round schedule. To compensate, Winter and Thanksgiving breaks would be longer and there would be a small break in June that serves as a summer break. He says the three-month break currently used for summer break leads to dramatic regression in students’ abilities. He also encourages the government to actually use the results of their educational studies to improve the system as a whole. 

Overall, he was a very effective and persuasive speaker, appealing to the audience with emotion and logic while providing humorous anecdotes to maintain their attention level.