Friday, December 22, 2017

David McKee's 6 best books

David McKee grew up in Devon, England. Later, while a student at Plymouth Art College, he began selling his cartoon drawings to newspapers. Since 1964 he has published a number of successful books for children, including the King Rollo stories, which he helped animate for British television. His first book for Lothrop was Snow Woman, of which Publishers Weekly said, "It is McKee's superb humor--conveyed almost solely in the illustrations...that wins the day." Of his second Lothrop book, Who's a Clever Baby, Publishers Weekly had this to say: "Grandma's alliterative frenzies are fascinating and readers will find Baby's manipulative stubbornness vastly amusing."

In th eUK he may be best known as the author and illustrator who created the Mr Benn TV series and wrote the Elmer The Elephant books. One of his six best books, as shared at the Daily Express:
TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson

A fantastic story, especially the bit where Blind Pew arrives with the tap-tap-tap of his stick. It's sinister stuff, one to read in winter around a fire.
Read about another entry on the list.

Treasure Island also appears on Kate Hamer's list of six notable novels with a strong evocation of atmosphere, David Robb's six best books list, Gillian Philip’s top ten list of islands in children's fiction, Robert Gore-Langton's top twelve list of the greatest children's books of all time, Emily St. John Mandel's list of the six books that influenced her most as a writer, David McCallum's six best books list, Bear Grylls's top ten list of adventure stories, Eoin Colfer's top 10 list of villains in fiction, Charlie Fletcher's top ten list of swashbuckling tales of derring-do, Robert McCrum's list of the ten best first lines in fiction, John Mullan's list of ten of the best pirates in fiction, and among Mal Peet's top ten books to read aloud, Philip Pullman's six best books, and Eoin Colfer's six favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue