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Six men have the power to choose between war and peace.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

1 person is currently reading
75 people want to read

About the author

David McKee

622 books110 followers
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.

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5 stars
48 (30%)
4 stars
60 (38%)
3 stars
43 (27%)
2 stars
2 (1%)
1 star
3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Darla.
4,850 reviews1,248 followers
November 1, 2022
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.
Profile Image for Nazila Goodarzian.
37 reviews8 followers
November 18, 2022
خوشم اومد از نویسنده ای که از بیان مفاهیم پیچیده برای کودکان هراسی ندارد! 😉
Profile Image for Eshraq.
213 reviews22 followers
October 23, 2019
من رو یاد "شهر" از هرمان هسه انداخت.
بشدت دلنشین و آموزنده
این ماییم.
174 reviews113 followers
March 3, 2018
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.

3 Stars for this one!
Profile Image for Sana.
10 reviews3 followers
March 25, 2022
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!
Profile Image for Angela.
1,358 reviews27 followers
September 6, 2011
Amazing line drawing illustrations combine with a powerful story of the cyclical futility of war. Recommended for discussion.
Profile Image for João Teixeira.
2,313 reviews44 followers
July 23, 2018
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...
Profile Image for Mim_farahani.
353 reviews26 followers
August 8, 2019
قصه ی شش مرد یا در حقیقت قصه دنیای ما :)


نقاشی ها رو خیلی دوست داشتم.. و متن ساده و در عین حال پر معناش رو .
4 reviews
June 23, 2020
داستانی زیبا همراه با ترجمه ای بسیار روان
Profile Image for Paul Graham Terpstra.
595 reviews
June 28, 2020
6 men searching the world for peace. But will they find it? Or simply find greed?
Simple illustrations but they get the point across well
Profile Image for Pardis.
707 reviews
July 5, 2020
داستان ترس، حرص و آز و سوء تفاهم‌های بشری
7 reviews
March 28, 2013
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.
Profile Image for Linda Atkinson.
2,492 reviews20 followers
October 27, 2011
Simple line drawings accompany a profound, though simply stated, commentary on the folly of war. Suggested age range 6 to 9yrs.
Profile Image for Susan.
869 reviews9 followers
November 16, 2011
If you were looking for a picture book to discuss war, this would be a good choice.
Profile Image for Randy.
810 reviews
February 22, 2017
I used this book to generate a discussion about why war is waged. The tale is simple, and it makes a difficult topic accessible.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 34 reviews

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