Sir Ned and the Nasties

David McKee is joined by son Brett in telling this tale of the Noble Sir Ned. The bold knight is commissioned to go into the local wood and quieten the notorious Nasties who are keeping up a constant blood-curdling droning that is driving the king mad. Sir Ned is a typical McKee character, resembling a small boy with a paper hat, a wooden sword, yellow stockings and little blue boots. Brett McKee supplies a rhyming text that bears comparison with Julia Donaldson and, like the mouse in The Gruffalo, Ned meets a series of characters as he enters the wood. He thinks they might help in his quest but actually it turns out they are the Nasties themselves (the reader will be well ahead of Ned here). Captured and tied to a tree, Ned quickly discovers where the annoying droning noise is coming from and, with his knowledge of choral singing, soon brings about a harmonious end to the nuisance. Characteristic McKee illustrations expertly realise his son’s satisfying tale.