David McKee's six 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 the UK McKee 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:

A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

A master storyteller. You can feel the setting beautifully, such as the idea of warming yourself over a candle. His stories cover big issues of justice and poverty but they were such good reads.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Christmas Carol is on Matt Haig's top ten list of Christmas books, Richard Hirst's top ten list of winters in literature, Melissa Albert's list of four of the most memorable holiday gifts in fiction, Chrissie Gruebel's list of six top fictional holiday parties, and Tom Lamont's list of ten of the best time travelers.

--Marshal Zeringue