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Remembering John Burningham

John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury win double BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award

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Mr Gumpy's Rhino

A brand new Mr Gumpy story from picture-book legend, John Burningham

A brand new Mr Gumpy story from picture-book legend, John Burningham 
 
Mr Gumpy is off on an adventure! This time he's rescuing a rhino who's lost its parents... But growing rhinos needs lots of food. Will Charlie the rhino and Mr Gumpy manage to make a happy home together? 
 
A madcap adventure for children, adults and rhinos alike from the creator of Would You Rather and Avocado Baby. 
 
Praise for Mr Gumpy's Outing - winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal 
"A story of real drama observed with gentle humour" Guardian

John Burningham (Author, Illustrator) John Burningham was born in 1936. He studied illustration at the Central School of Art. His first children's book, Borka, was published in 1963, and it was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal as the best illustrated book of the year. John Burningham collaborated with Ian Fleming on Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, designing the model of the famous car. He lived in London with his wife Helen Oxenbury, also a well-known author and illustrator. John Burningham died on January 4th, 2019.

A brand new Mr Gumpy story from picture-book legend, John Burningham 
 
Mr Gumpy is off on an adventure! This time he’s rescuing a rhino who’s lost its parents… But growing rhinos needs lots of food. Will Charlie the rhino and Mr Gumpy manage to make a happy home together? 
 
A madcap adventure for children, adults and rhinos alike from the creator of Would You Rather and Avocado Baby. 
 
Praise for Mr Gumpy’s Outing – winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal 
“A story of real drama observed with gentle humour” Guardian

More Would You Rather

John Burningham’s classic Would You Rather returns in this standalone sequel with more fun, more dilemmas and more brilliant questions!

Would you rather have breakfast with bears, lunch with a lion or dinner with ducks? 
 
Would you like to fly with the pelicans or swim with the fish? 
 
Ask – and answer – these questions and many more in this funny, imaginative game of a book, perfect for fans of You Choose! 
 
John Burningham is a bestselling creator who has been delighting families with his imaginative books for generations. 
 
More books by John Burningham: 
 
Avocado Baby 
Would You Rather 
Mr Gumpy's Outing

Laugh-out-loud jokes... in an ingeniously constructed, interactive delight... It is irresistible and will enable adults and children to know each other better

John Burningham (Author, Illustrator) 
John Burningham was born in 1936. He studied illustration at the Central School of Art. His first children's book, Borka, was published in 1963, and it was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal as the best illustrated book of the year. John Burningham collaborated with Ian Fleming on Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, designing the model of the famous car. He lived in London with his wife Helen Oxenbury, also a well-known author and illustrator. John Burningham died on January 4th, 2019.

Mouse House

A new modern classic from John Burningham exploring kindness and empathy.

The great John Burningham makes picture books whose sophistication is wrapped in simplicity. This is true of the images, whose unfussy beauty and wibbly line are executed with unwavering skill. This story, of mice who are forewarned to escape a mouse-catcher, embraces the importance of protecting strangers from harm.

Here's one to squeak and squeak about... Mouse House is packed with themes: children v parents; empathy v tolerance; why you should think before you speak, or squeak. It's a serious story that might also be about the treatment of immigrants, the narrow-mindedness of the old and the infuriating naivety of youth - or it could just be about a failed attempt to kill rodents.

In the house there lives a family: a mum, a dad, a girl and a boy. But they are not alone; a secret mouse family is living there too, who only come out when everyone else is asleep. 
 
One day they are spotted and the mouse catcher is called ... Will they escape in time? 
 
A story of home and hope from picture-book genius, John Burningham.

Motor Miles

An iconic and moving new picture book from the bestselling, award-winning artist and storyteller, John Burningham

John Burningham, who has brought us so many memorable picture-book characters since Borka the goose with no feathers arrived in 1963, now introduces Miles, who is "a very difficult dog". 
Characteristically for Burningham - and this is an important lesson for children - misbehaviour does not mean forfeiting affection. 
Instead, Alice Trudge and her son Norman, who own Miles, find what he really likes to do, which is to go out in the car. Taking him daily is time-consuming, so a neighbour builds him his own car and Miles learns to drive. He takes Norman to school, and the two have joyous secret outings. With his wavering, fragmented line and beautiful washes of colour, Burningham expresses character and comedy, and depicts landscapes through the seasons that are magical and seductive. 
Everything about this picture book suggests freedom, in the style and the story. The tale is simple but encompasses kindness to animals, neighbourliness, the advantages of being practical and handy, the rewards of diligently learning a skill, a love of the outdoors, the pleasure of companionship, following your own inclinations and knowing left from right. There is a fun punchline too. The book might look sketchy, but it is just right.

October 2016 Book of the Month 
There’s a perfect simplicity to this book, the work of a picture book genius. Miles is a difficult dog, won’t come when called, doesn’t like walks or other dogs, barks too much. The only thing he does like, in fact, is going out in the car. Fortunately, the family’s neighbour realises that what Miles needs is a car of his own, and offers to make him one. John Burningham’s illustrations, simultaneously comic and serious, match his deadpan text beautifully; Miles and his young owner Norman are wonderfully realised characters; the colours glow: quite simply wonderful.

http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/13204/Motor-Miles-by-John-Burningham.html

John Burningham was born in 1936. He studied illustration at the Central School of Art. His first children's book, Borka, was published in 1963, and it was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal as the best illustrated book of the year. John Burningham collaborated with Ian Fleming on Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, designing the model of the famous car. He lived in London with his wife Helen Oxenbury, also a well-known author and illustrator. John Burningham died on January 4th, 2019.

Miles is a very difficult dog... Until he is given his very own motor car and learns to love the open road! 
 
This enigmatic story is a joy to read, gently exploring the transformational power of freedom. John's distinctive, expressive artwork is stunning, whether it's his instantly recognisable characters or the expansive, contemplative spreads of colour, as Miles discovers the joys of the road. This is a story that children will immediately engage with, while parents absorb the magically nostalgic air and subtle celebration of change and growing up.

Picnic

A truly exciting new book from John Burningham, in the grand tradition of MR GUMPY’S OUTING, with a wonderfully cosy ending

A delicate echo of Burningham’s much-loved Mr Gumpy’s Outing

The book invites children to identify the characters, and to point to them and to lost objects. The drawings carry their sophisticated skill lightly… An ideal step forwards from board books

Children's Book of the Week, The Sunday Times

One day Boy and Girl go out for a picnic. They meet all sorts of creatures along the way – some come with them and some chase them, but whatever happens, today will be a day for Adventure!

Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers

John Burningham's classic first picture book reissued with the original cover rescanned and redesigned for its 50th anniversary.

When I was little, this was my favourite book; when my children were little, it was their favourite book. The story of how Borka, the youngest of six geese born to Mr and Mrs Plumpster without any feathers, is a touching tale of motherly love and triumph over adversity. Mrs Plumpster immediately knits poor, bald Borka a grey woollen jumper but when the family migrates south, Borka gets left behind because she can't fly. The abandoned goose is befriended by a friendly boat skipper who takes her on his boat back to London, where she is given a new home at Kew Gardens. The other geese don't mind about her having no feathers because there are so many other strange birds at Kew and anything goes. Borka is republished to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Cape is right to publish this golden goose of an edition for an as-yet-uninitiated generation

Once upon a time there were two geese called Mr and Mrs Plumpster. Each Spring they returned to the marshes of their ancestors, and Mrs Plumpster laid her eggs. Soon six fine young Plumpsters hatched: Archie, Freda, Jennifer, Oswald, Timothy and Borka. But Borka was different. Borka had no feathers and could not fly. When winter came the other geese flew off in search of warmer climates, leaving Borka all alone. But her adventure was only just beginning . . .

John Burningham

Bill Salaman

Helen Oxenbury

A poignant book about new horizons and saying goodbye from best-loved creators: John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury 
 
Miles is a difficult dog who loves to ride in his motor car. He's growing older, but a new challenge awaits when he takes to the skies. 
 
A picture book of beauty, infinite possibility, and love, which explores loss and grief in subtle and comforting ways. 
 
This is the award-winning author-illustrator John Burningham's last story - written by friend, Bill Salaman and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

John Burningham

Air Miles

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