Heroes and Monsters (Piccolo Books)

John Morris Reeves, later known as James Reeves, was a British writer principally known for his poetry, plays and contributions to children s literature and the literature of collected traditional songs His published books include poetry, stories and anthologies for both adults and children He was also well known as a literary critic and broadcaster.He was born in Harrow, and educated at Stowe School and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English and co founded with Jacob Bronowski the literary magazine Experiment He began his writing career as a poet in 1936, and in 1945 turned his attention to writing for young readers His first book of poems for children, The Wandering Moon, appeared in 1950, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone, with whom Reeves sustained a lifelong friendship and collaboration Reeves worked as a teacher until 1952, when his failing eyesight forced him to retire and he became a full time writer and editor.He succeeded Bronowski as editor of Epilogue a critical summary Riding, Graves He was also an editor of some of the works of Robert Graves His prose work for children commenced in 1956 and included short stories His real achievement, however, lies in his poetry, which is generally regarded as the best British serious children s verse since Walter de la Mare though the poems are usually far from serious in subject matter Carpenter, Prichard from