David McKee was a British writer and illustrator, chiefly of children's books and animations. He also used the pseudonym Violet Easton. He is frequently referenced as David (John) McKee. He has been commended for his gentle, playful but insightful stories.
For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006.
With simple ink drawings and spare text, David McKee lays out a fable about how wars get started. First there is a search for a place to work in peace, then soldiers for security, more land, boundaries, misunderstandings, then conflict. . . Throughout the ages, our human nature remains the same. May God give us grace to forgive and show kindness in our little corner.
You cannot possibly consider the evolution of human civilization without discussing warfare and conflict. It has absolutely been an implicit part of the human experience. Unfortunately, warfare, and all the pain, terror and heartbreak which it brings, has been a common theme in the history of human civilization. It is also a very difficult and complex topic. That being said, can a 36 page picture book clearly bring into focus the true tragedy and various complexities of human conflict and warfare? Is that really possible? In his book, Six Men, this is exactly what the author David Mckee, sets out to do.
Essentially, the book begins with six men who travel the world to find a home where they may live and work in peace. Eventually, they discover just the place they are looking for and begin to work the land and prosper. However, as their riches grow they start to become paranoid that someone will come to steal their newly discovered wealth. As such, they hire "six strong soldiers' who will stand guard over their riches. They soon find that nobody actually comes to steal anything from them and the soldiers become fat and lazy as they do not have anything to do. Unhappy with such a situation, the six men order the guards to capture a neighboring farm so that they can earn their keep. After discovering how easy it was to steal from others, the six men begin to enjoy their brand new power and capture more land from other farmers. Anyone who fought back were either killed, captured or escaped to the other side of the river. Fearing further attacks from the empire of the six men, the group of escapees across the river begin to form an army of their own. Soon their army is just as large and powerful as that of the six men. Eventually through mistake and miscalculation, the two armies fear an imminent attack from the other and begin a magnificent battle. At the end of the fight, only six men on each side are left alive. These men soon trudge off in seperate directions to search for a place to live and work in peace.
There are a number of secondary themes within this story. Human greed, lust for power, and the inherent dangers of simple misunderstandings can be identified throughout the tale. However, the overrriding theme is based upon the pure futility of war. This is shown quite capably in the book using a patterned and cyclical style of writing. The point is made in simple and repetitive language which is an obvious attempt to present extremely complicated and complex concepts in a rather straightforward way. As such, this book could be recommended as a children's book all the way up to adult readers. There is much to discuss and analyze in regards to the story and its theme.
All picture books have a common element in them...pictures! This story is not very striking visually as it is essentially in all black and white. Also, the actual drawings are quite plain and facile. I do believe this is actually an attempt to support the theme of futility and show how simple it is for conflict and war to begin. While this is certainly a unique device to use, the actual story audience (mainly children), can be difficult to engage and I am not too sure that these illustrations will help in this regard.
At the outset of the review I asked whether a short picture book can really capture the tragedy and complexities of human conflict and warfare. I do believe that they can. However, while this particular book is a great introduction to this topic, I do not believe it fully captures the heart wrenching emotions of the topic. Great introduction...but that is where it ends.
تصویر سازی ساده ولی هوشمندانه یک داستان کوتاه ولی پر مفهوم 👌🏻 کسی که با یک چنین کتاب ساده ای،انقدر جالب جنگ رو توضیح میده... کتاب عجیبی بود.باعث شد ساعت ها فکر کنم!
Não sei como é que esta história pode ser educativa. Quer dizer, levar esta história a discussão só pode ter uma conclusão, na minha opinião: a cobiça leva o ser humano a nunca estar em paz. Por outras palavras, o estado natural do ser humano é a guerra porque o ser humano ambiciona sempre mais do que aquilo que tem. Pelo menos, foi esta a conclusão a que eu cheguei depois de ter lido este livro que, supostamente, é um livro para crianças. Porquê? Porque tem ilustrações e um texto simples? Não penso que esses sejam critérios suficientes para catalogar um livro na secção "infantil"... Onde é que está a mensagem nesta história, é coisa que eu não consigui descobrir...
Came to read this book through Global Peace Academy where I am interning this year. Simple and poignant illustration of how senseless we can be. When we skim all the layers we see how the biggest conflicts can rise from the smallest of misunderstandings or thoughts.