ELMER AUTHOR NOW VEWY QUIET
Beloved children’s author and illustrator David McKee has died aged 87. Publishing his first book in 1964, he achieved major success several years later with the Elmer the Patchwork Elephant series, which celebrates diversity through its jolly, rainbow-patchwork elephant protagonist. A brush with racism – McKee’s first wife was of Indian descent and a passerby hurled slurs at their daughter – inspired the concept of a visually-striking pachyderm being accepted for who he is. Elmer more recently has been considered an LGBT hero due to that general theme, and just in case there’s any anti-gay political parties out there that use an elephant as their mascot, Elmer seems the perfect way to give them conniptions…
McKee followed suit with the Mr Benn series, which starred a man in a bowler hat who goes on fantastical adventures related to costumes he tries on and was adapted into a popular animated series. Outside of his own creations, he illustrated several Paddington Bear books. McKee draws up a second unique hit for Bibliogryphon’s Bookworm Food.
David McKee
2 January 1935 – 7 April 2022, aged 87
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