There are books your kids like, books they ask you to read again and again, and then there are the rare ones that somehow become part of the family.
For us, The Barnabus Project has been one of those for a long time. It’s been a bedtime favorite for each of our kids. I’ve even read it to Finn’s kindergarten class and had those slack-jawed little faces fully locked in.
The Fan Brothers are just ridiculously good at their craft. Their worlds are soft, cinematic, a little strange, and packed with tiny details that reward another read. Same for the illustrations — the texture, expressions, and little background moments invite constant rediscovery.
Our family was so stoked to see Barnaby Unboxed! drop. By showing life from the other side of the glass, the Fan Brothers have turned the two books into a pretty perfect little series.
The Barnabus Project
Barnabus is a tiny part-mouse, part-elephant creature living beneath a Perfect Pets store. He’s also, unfortunately, a Failed Project.
When he learns what happens to the failures, he and the other misfits make a run for it.
At the end of the day, it’s a low-key prison escape about community, taking risks, and chasing “mountains with their own stars.” There’s even a cockroach homie helping sell the dream.
We even have a ritual with the endpapers. Rows of Perfect Pets sit boxed on the shelves, and after the story we each pick the one we’d take home—arguing the case for Bumble Bear, Furtle, or Mushroom Sloth.
The Barnabus Project
Barnaby Unboxed
Then Barnaby Unboxed! flips the perspective.
Barnaby is an actual Perfect Pet. He gets chosen, gets a loving home, and basically gets the life Barnabus could only imagine.
Then Rainbow Barnaby shows up. Brutal.
Barnaby falls out of favor, runs away, and eventually lands with a family of squirrels who teach him how to survive in the wild. Different journey. Same strange little universe. An excellent follow-up.
Barnaby Unboxed!
Two sides of perfect
That’s what makes the books so good together.
Barnabus is the failed pet looking up at the world of Perfect Pets. Barnaby is the Perfect Pet living inside the machine.
One is told he isn’t good enough. The other discovers that apparently being good enough can have an expiration date.
The Fan Brothers never hammer the point. They build this beautiful, odd little world and let the characters work it out.
Together, the books feel like a nearly perfect series about belonging, identity, and the fairly exhausting business of being “perfect.”
We love both. I hope they keep going - there are plenty more Perfect Pets on those shelves. And I have a feeling Rainbow Barnaby might have a story too.
