Simple pleasures

A popular children's author is lending his talents to a character from advertising for bedtime reading. Nicole Curnow talked with him

David McKee is a difficult man to track down. When he's not working on his illustrations in the south of France, he's in Paris writing one of his many children's books or he's overseeing animations at his Exeter-based film company.

He does not own a computer or an e-mail address; he rarely puts himself in the media spotlight and refers to himself as 'a bit of a hermit'.

But McKee has taken time out of his schedule to promote his new book, The Adventures of Charmin the Bear, which is supported by the NSPCC and designed to encourage parents and carers to read to children more.

Unlike his other famous characters - King Rollo, Mr Benn and Elmer the Elephant - Charmin is not his own creation. The cuddly bear is already a household name thanks to its appearance on national television, advertising Proctor & Gamble's Charmin toilet tissue. 'There was such a softness and friendliness about the character that I immediately warmed to him,' he says.

The four stories in the book - 'Sleep', 'The Feather Game', 'Softly-Softly' and 'Clouds' - emphasise the notion of sleep, comfort and security, making it an ideal book for bedtime reading or day naps at the nursery.

'I'd like a child to feel they could take Charmin to bed with them in the same way they would take a teddy bear,' explains McKee. 'I want them to feel his softness and comfort, but at the same time feel his strength and reliability.'

The stories are within the scope of a young child's world - not big adventures, but simple things like blowing a feather or a balloon. 'The adventures do not teach children in the traditional sense; they simply convey the simple games in life - for the adult and the child,' he says.

McKee was born in Devon, where he had a 'comfortable, straightforward upbringing'. 'I used to walk for miles across Dartmoor when I was a child,' he says. 'The landscape fired my imagination. I was able to listen to the voice that was inside me. I think this voice is an important one.'

When a nursery teacher once asked McKee what props should be used to help a child explore their imagination, he replied, 'In a way, you already give them too much.'

McKee believes children should be encouraged simply to play and interact with other children. 'When a child is playing, he is living the story that he's telling. Games like hide and seek or walking in the countryside are important for a child's development, because it means time away from distractions such as television and music.'

As an author of children's books he believes he has a responsibility to think carefully about the words he uses and the messages he conveys. It makes him angry when people say that children are not affected by violence and sex on television. 'It's obviously rubbish. Children retain what they learn at a young age; they are affected by it.'

He thinks traditional stories, with their 'definite ideas of the good and the bad', should not be overlooked. 'Children like the repetition of the same story. For them it's a shared experience that they find comforting.'

McKee's most famous creation, Elmer, is an innocent character who plays tricks and gets tricks played on him. 'The stories don't pose any threat - they are simple, happy,' says McKee. 'They're a form of escapism, forcing readers to look outside the real world.'

He believes the character was born out of his affinity to elephants and the influence on him of painter Paul Klee, whose work features squares of different colours. 'Some of my paintings were squared-up at the time and one day the elephant and the painting came together. As soon as I saw the image, the story just appeared and he became alive.' The author wears a porcelain Elmer badge on his jacket, referring to it as his 'lucky charm'.

He hopes that Charmin's adventures will be repeated over and over again, just like Elmer. 'When I was younger I used to get an idea for a story and think, "I hope I don't die before I finish this". Then one day it dawned on me that no matter what happened, I was going to die with a head full of stories. Now I just accept it.'