There's one book that crops up again and again whenever you ask kidlit obsessives to name their favourite picture books.
"Not Now Bernard" is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, arriving all the way back in 1980 when I was too old for it - but just in time for me to read aloud to my younger brother.
Back then the message was probably way ahead of its time, and in fact the 40th anniversary edition has been updated to feature Bernard's ignorant parents doing the very thing that drives me absolutely crazy when I see it while out and about with my own daughter.
Parents on mobiles. Blissfully ignoring their kid, not giving them any attention, just like the parents in this story.
Bernard is constantly told "Not Now, Bernard" whenever he tries to talk to his mum and dad about a nasty purple monster that has taken up residence in the garden. Bernard decides to talk to the monster, and it's then that we're given a short sharp shock that feels completely at odds with anything you'll see in very few modern picture books. That 'snap' moment where the main character is done away with (in this case, scoffed up, every last bite, by the monster).
We've seen loads of well meaning but hopelessly rubbish analysis of this book over the years. What its true meaning is. Is Bernard the monster? Are his parents? Does he really get eaten? Does his mum really not realise that her son has been replaced with a monster?
Let's face it, we really don't need all that hogwash and I'm not entirely sure we needed the book to be 'messed with' for the new anniversary edition either, but as it stands - or rather as it stood, "Not Now, Bernard" is a masterpiece in subversive storytelling that delights kids every time they encounter Bernard's monstrous demise.
McKee is a bit of a marmite fellah. Some folk really love his books and understand entirely what their intent and their message is. Others go overboard in picking apart those messages, instead interpreting them as somehow menacing, subversive and harmful to children. Those folk are the sort of book folk who probably happily dictate to their child what they should and shouldn't read, and will probably never instil in their child a love of reading - or any form of that child finding their own way into books that they truly love, rather than being told to love.
Looking down the McKee books we've reviewed, particular favourites are "George's Invisible Watch" (which McKee collaborated on with his son Brett), and the sublime "The Hill and the Rock" which is a rather lovely and original morality tale that, like most of McKee's books, delivers its message subtly and rather beautifully.
More included below from this truly talented fellah, who deserves his place as a true kidlit icon.
Original Review Links:
George's Invisible Watch by David and Brett McKee
ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week ending 15th November 2013 - "Isabel's Noisy Tummy" by David McKee (Andersen Children's Books)
A spooky Halloween Re-Review of "Not Now, Bernard" by David McKee (Andersen Children's Books)
Big Top Benn by David McKee (Tate Publishing Ltd)
Denver by David McKee (Andersen Children's Books)
The Hill and the Rock
Not Now Bernard
Two Can Toucan
Elmer and the Hippos
The King of Quizzical Island (with Gordon Snell)
Three Monsters