Alexander Key facts for kids
Alexander Hill Key (born September 21, 1904 – died July 25, 1979) was an American writer. He wrote many science fiction books, mostly for young people like you!
Early life
He went to the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, from 1921 to 1923.
Personal life
Before becoming a writer, Alexander Key was a well-known illustrator. After he started writing books for young readers, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains. Because of this, many of his books feature wild and rugged mountain landscapes.
Literary work
Alexander Key is famous for several of his books that became movies and TV shows.
- His book Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular Disney movie in 1975. It was so popular that it was remade in 1995 and 2009!
- The sequel to Escape to Witch Mountain also became a popular movie in 1978.
- His novel The Incredible Tide was turned into a popular anime series called Future Boy Conan in 1978.
Key's stories often feature special characters. These characters look human but have amazing powers, like being able to read minds or move things with their thoughts (called psychic or psionic abilities). They also have a strong connection with nature and can even talk to animals using their minds.
In his non-fiction book The Strange White Doves, Key shared his belief that animals are smart and have feelings. He thought they could think, feel, and understand things, and that they communicate in subtle ways, perhaps through empathy or telepathy.
Often, the main characters in Key's books are treated badly or feared because of their special powers or because they come from another world. Key used this idea to show how unfair it is when people are judged or treated poorly because they are different, like in cases of racism.
In some of his novels, like The Case of the Vanishing Boy, Key wrote about groups of people who choose to leave society and live together. He sometimes showed that government help for children wasn't always the best. For example, in The Forgotten Door and Escape to Witch Mountain, the main characters try to avoid the system. This is because they are not from Earth and simply want to go back home. Luckily, some kind people help them! Key's book The Forgotten Door came out more than 10 years before the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which has a similar theme.
The story of Key's The Magic Meadow is very touching, especially for anyone who has been sick in a hospital. Its ending is full of hope. This was another common idea in Alexander Key's books: that good people deserve to find a wonderful place where they truly belong.
Selected works
As illustrator only
- In the Light of Myth: Selections from the World's Myths, compiled and interpreted by Rannie B. Baker (1925)
- Real Legends of New England, G. Waldo Browne (1930)
- The Book of Dragons, selected and edited by O. Muiriel Fuller (1931)
- Suwannee River: Strange Green Land, Cecile Hulse Matschat (1938)
As writer
- The Red Eagle: A Tale for Young Aviators (1930)
- Liberty or Death (1936)
- With Daniel Boone on the Caroliny Trail (1941)
- The Wrath and the Wind (1949)
- Island light (1950)
- Sprockets: A Little Robot (1963)
- Rivets and Sprockets (1964)
- The Forgotten Door (1965)
- Bolts: a Robot Dog (1966)
- Mystery of the Sassafras Chair (1968)
- Escape to Witch Mountain (1968)
- The Golden Enemy (1969)
- The Incredible Tide (1970)
- Flight to the Lonesome Place (1971)
- The Strange White Doves (1972)
- The Preposterous Adventures of Swimmer (1973)
- The Magic Meadow (1975)
- Jagger, the Dog from Elsewhere (1976)
- The Sword of Aradel (1977)
- Return from Witch Mountain (1978) – This book was written by Key, based on the Disney movie. The movie's story was by Malcolm Marmorstein, using characters Key created.
- The Case of the Vanishing Boy (1979)
Read some of Mr. Key's out-of-print books online.
