John (Mackintosh) Burningham (1936-) Biography

Born 1936, in Farnham, Surrey, England; Education: Central School of Art (London, England), national diploma in design, 1959.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Jonathan Cape Ltd., 30 Bedford Sq., London WC1B 3EL, England.

Career

Author, illustrator, and freelance designer. Worked at farming, slum-clearance, forestry, in the Friend's Ambulance Unit, and at school building as an alternative to military service, 1953-55; freelance illustrator traveling through Italy, Yugoslavia, and Israel, 1953-55; worked for a year on set designs, models, and puppets for an animated puppet film in the Middle East, 1959-60; designed posters for London Transport and the British Transport Commission, early 1960s; author and illustrator of children's books, 1963—; freelance designer of murals, exhibitions, three-dimensional models, magazine illustrations and advertisements.

John Burningham

Honors Awards

Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration, British Library Association, 1963, for Borka; The Extraordinary Tug-of-War selected an American Institute of Graphic Arts book of the year, 1967-68; Kate Greenaway Medal, 1970, Honorary Award from Biennale of Illustrations Bratislava, New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year, and Outstanding Book citations from School Library Journal all 1971, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Illustration, and Children's Book Showcase selection, both 1972, and American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book citation, all for Mr. Gumpy's Outing; Children's Book of the Year citations, Child Study Association of America, 1971, for Seasons and Mr. Gumpy's Outing, and 1976, for Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car; Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car included in Children's Book Showcase, Children's Book Council, 1977; Horn Book honor list, 1977, for Come away from the Water, Shirley, 1978, for Time to Get out of the Bath, Shirley, and 1988, for John Patrick Norman McHennessey: The Boy Who Was Always Late; New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year citations, 1977, for Come away from the Water, Shirley, and 1985, for Granpa; Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize), West German Federal Ministry of the Interior, 1980, for Would You Rather … ; Kurt Maschler/Emil Award runner-up, National Book League (Great Britain), 1983, for The Wind in the Willows, and 1986, for Where's Julius?; Kurt Maschler/Emil Award, 1984, and New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, 1985, both for Granpa; Parents' Choice Picture Book Award, 1988, for John Patrick Norman McHennessey, the Boy Who Was Always Late; Parents' Choice Picture Book Award, 1990, and "Book Can Develop Empathy" award, 1991, both for Hey! Get off Our Train!

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, J. Cape (London, England), 1963, Random House (New York, NY), 1964.

(And illustrated with Leigh Taylor) ABC, J. Cape (London, England), 1964, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1967.

Trubloff: The Mouse Who Wanted to Play the Balalaika, J. Cape (London, England), 1964, Random House (New York, NY), 1965.

Humbert, Mister Firkin, and the Lord Mayor of London, J. Cape (London, England), 1965, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1967.

Cannonball Simp: The Story of a Dog Who Joins a Circus, J. Cape (London, England), 1966, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1967.

Harquin: The Fox Who Went down to the Valley, J. Cape (London, England), 1967, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1968.

Seasons, J. Cape (London, England), 1969, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1971.

Mr. Gumpy's Outing, Holt (New York, NY), 1970.

(Adapter) Around the World in Eighty Days, J. Cape (London, England), 1972.

Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car, J. Cape (London, England), 1973, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1975.

Come away from the Water, Shirley, Crowell (New York, NY), 1977.

Time to Get out of the Bath, Shirley, Crowell (New York, NY), 1978.

Would You Rather … , Crowell (New York, NY), 1978.

The Shopping Basket, Crowell (New York, NY), 1980.

Avocado Baby, Crowell (New York, NY), 1982.

Granpa, J. Cape (London, England), 1984, Crown (New York, NY), 1985.

Where's Julius?, Crown (New York, NY), 1986.

John Patrick Norman McHennessey: The Boy Who Was Always Late, Crown (New York, NY), 1987.

Oi! Get off Our Train, J. Cape (London, England), 1989, published as Hey! Get off Our Train, Crown (New York, NY), 1990.

Aldo, Crown (New York, NY), 1991.

Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1993.

Courtney, Crown (New York, NY), 1994.

First Steps: Letters, Numbers, Colors, Opposites, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Cloudland, J. Cape (London, England), 1996.

Whaddayamean?, Crown (New York, NY), 1999.

Hushabye, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

The Magic Bed, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

"LITTLE BOOK" SERIES; SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Rabbit, J. Cape (London, England), 1974, Crowell (New York, NY), 1975.

The School, J. Cape (London, England), 1974, Crowell (New York, NY), 1975.

The Snow, J. Cape (London, England), 1974, Crowell (New York, NY), 1975.

The Baby, J. Cape (London, England), 1974, Crowell (New York, NY), 1975.

The Blanket, J. Cape (London, England), 1975, Crowell (New York, NY), 1976.

The Cupboard, J. Cape (London, England), 1975, Crowell (New York, NY), 1976.

The Dog, J. Cape (London, England), 1975, Crowell (New York, NY), 1976.

The Friend, J. Cape (London, England), 1975, Crowell (New York, NY), 1976.

"NUMBER PLAY" SERIES; SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Count Up: Learning Sets, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

Five Down: Numbers as Signs, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

Just Cats: Learning Groups, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

Pigs Plus: Learning Addition, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

Read One: Numbers as Words, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

Ride Off: Learning Subtraction, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

"FIRST WORDS"/ "NOISY WORDS" SERIES

Sniff Shout, Viking (New York, NY), 1984.

Skip Trip, Viking (New York, NY), 1984.

Wobble Pop, Viking (New York, NY), 1984.

Slam Bang!, Viking (New York, NY), 1985.

Cluck Baa, Viking (New York, NY), 1985.

Jangle Twang, Viking (New York, NY), 1985.

"PLAY AND LEARN" SERIES; SELF-ILLUSTRATED

John Burningham's ABC, Crown (New York, NY), 1985, published as Alphabet Book, Walker (London, England), 1987.

John Burningham's Colors, Crown (New York, NY), 1985.

John Burningham's 123, Crown (New York, NY), 1985.

John Burningham's Opposites, Crown (New York, NY), 1985.

Letters, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Numbers, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

WALL FRIEZES

Birdland, Braziller (New York, NY), 1966.

Lionland, J. Cape (London, England), 1966, Braziller (New York, NY), 1967.

Storyland, J. Cape (London, England), 1966, Braziller (New York, NY), 1967.

Jungleland, J. Cape (London, England), 1968.

Wonderland, J. Cape (London, England), 1968.

Around the World, J. Cape (London, England), 1972.

OTHER

(Illustrator) Ian Fleming, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car, Random House (New York, NY), 1964.

(Illustrator) Letta Schatz, editor, The Extraordinary Tug-of-War, Follett (New York, NY), 1968.

(Illustrator) Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

England (adult picture book), J. Cape (London, England), 1993.

John Burningham's France (adult picture book), DK Publications, 1998.

(Illustrator with others) Caroline Castle, For Every Child: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Words and Pictures, Fogelman Books/UNICEF (New York, NY), 2001.

Burningham's books have been published in Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Irish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Welsh, and Zulu.

Adaptations

Weston Woods has made filmstrips of Mr. Gumpy's Outing, Come away from the Water, Shirley, and Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car (filmstrip with cassette), 1982; Finehouse/Evergreen has made a filmstrip of Cannonball.

Sidelights

Dubbed "one of the most outstanding author-illustrators of children's books writing today," by Fionna Lafferty in the St. James Guide to Children's Writers, British writer John Burningham has more than fifty books to his credit, including two Kate Greenaway-medal winners. In a career spanning nearly four decades, Burningham has created such memorable picture-book characters as a goose with no feathers in Borka, an eccentric rustic in Mr. Gumpy's Outing and its sequel, Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car, a little girl whose parents desperately want her to stay out of trouble in Come away from the Water, Shirley and Time to Get out of the Bath, Shirley, a little girl and her beloved grandfather in Granpa, a balalaika-playing mouse in Trubloff, and a nanny-like dog in Courtney.

Blending wry textual humor with equally humorous line drawings embellished with crayon, wash, and a wide assortment of other media, Burningham has created a signature style to his works. Chris Stephenson, writing in Carousel, remarked that Burningham is "one of that small band of innovative, adventurous illustrators who, through a combination of boldness of design and virtuosity of artwork, enhanced by texts which probed, explored, resonated and above all, entertained, completely transformed children's books."

Born on April 27, 1936, in Farnham, Surrey, Burningham was the youngest of three children. His father's work as a salesman took the family all over the country. As a child Burningham attended ten different schools and was forever trying to fit in as the new kid at school or in the neighborhood. Books and being read to, constants amid all the moving about, were an early delight for him.

At age twelve, Burningham was sent to the famous Summerhill School, an experiment in liberal teaching methods, run by A. S. Neill. Here lessons were not compulsory and Burningham began drawing and painting, finding his own way rather than having his future dictated to him. Serving alternative service instead of going to the military, he spent two years working at forestry and social work, attending art classes in the evening. From 1956 to 1959 he attended London's Central School of Art and Craft. It was there he met his wife, children's-book illustrator Helen Oxenbury, though the two would not marry for several more years. Out of school, Burningham had a variety of jobs in graphic arts, including designing stage sets, creating magazine cartoons, Christmas cards, cereal boxes, and posters for the London Transport system. He was having no luck with publishers, however, taking his portfolio around London, but winning no commissions. Finally he determined to create his own book.

In 1963, Burningham published his first book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers. The book tells the tale of a young hatchling who is rejected by other geese because she looks different; eventually Borka finds a home with birds who can accept her as she is. Borka earned its author the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration, and also launched Burningham's career as an author-illustrator, even though he had not planned on writing for children. "It is difficult to say why things happen," Burningham told Michele Field in Publishers Weekly. "If I had written a novel and it had won some kind of award, undoubtedly I'd still be writing novels." Borka quickly gained critical approval for its comical style and impressive pictures. "There is humor, boldness and verve in the story," a Sunday Herald Tribune Book Week reviewer remarked, "… and in the well-drawn pictures, bright and childlike yet with original and interesting coloring." A reviewer for Junior Bookshelf similarly called Borka "exceedingly funny in conception," and praised it for its "consistent absurdity." The critic concluded: "So hilarious and lovely a book is a major contribution to the long and glorious history of the English picture book."

Burningham's next four books also feature animal characters behaving in human ways. In Trubloff, for instance, the author "gets a great deal of fun and a measure of beauty out of a charmingly absurd story of a mouse with musical aspirations," a Junior Bookshelf writer commented. Cannonball Simp is about an ugly dog who goes from being unwanted to starring in a circus; its pictures "talk directly to young children," Robert Cohen wrote in Young Readers Review. Harquin tells the story of a foxhunt from the fox's point of view, while Humbert, Mr. Firkin, and the Lord Mayor of London finds a cart-horse saving the parade on the Lord Mayor's Show Day.

Some critics believe that the storylines of these books are overshadowed by Burningham's illustrations. Richard Kluger, writing in the Sunday Herald Tribune Book Week, remarked that Trubloff "is strong as art, a bit flat as story," and Nancy Young Orr wrote in School Library Journal that the rich illustrations give Harquin "a verve and humor which the text alone fails to supply." But others find Burningham's stories skillfully written. In Trubloff, for instance, the author's pictures "are as fascinating as his story," Patience M. Daltry commented in the Christian Science Monitor. And a Publishers Weekly writer stated in a review of Cannonball Simp that "after looking at his wild and glorious creatures and reading the wild and glorious stories he writes about them … Burningham is now my favorite Englishman." As a Junior Bookshelf critic concluded in a review of Humbert, Burningham has "a remarkable gift for inventing very funny stories and putting them into brief, unobtrusively perfect words."

Seven years after his first book, Burningham produced another Greenaway winner in Mr. Gumpy's Outing. Mr. Gumpy travels along in his boat and picks up animals and children who promise not to cause trouble. But the creatures cannot avoid breaking their promises, and the whole crew ends up in the water. Nevertheless, the tale ends happily with Mr. Gumpy serving tea to his now-soggy passengers. Dorothy Butler found the book a "classic example" of a story for young children; it is "beautifully paced, each character coming alive through his action and speech, with no need for description," the critic commented in Signal. Mr. Gumpy's Outing is "a blessing of a book," Joan Bodger Mercer likewise concluded in the New York Times Book Review. "Pored over, read aloud or acted out it should bring joy to the nursery." A sequel about an ill-fated car trip, Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car, has also been successful; Virginia Haviland observed in Horn Book that Burningham "is blessed with a gift for both verbal and visual storytelling; his flow of words describing the muddy crisis matches the charm of his watercolor scenes."

Although his work involving animals has been very successful, Burningham has become "increasingly interested in the relationships between adults and children," as the author told Field in Publishers Weekly. In the books Come away from the Water, Shirley and Time to Get out of the Bath, Shirley, Burningham contrasts the imaginative adventures of a little girl with her parents' warnings to stay out of trouble. Both books feature brightly colored illustrations of Shirley's exploits paired with subdued portraits of her dreary parents. The result is "all too brief a masterpiece of humor and affection, with … unforgettable illustrations," according to David Anable of the Christian Science Monitor. As Margery Fisher concluded in Growing Point, Burningham's "Shirley" books provide readers with "a marvelously comical and inventive juxtaposition of everyday taps, toothpaste and domestic admonition with storybook cliches and uninhibited fun."

The tale of a boy who must outwit a series of animals on his way home from the store, The Shopping Basket "is the latest in a long line of marvelously humourous, idiosyncratic tales told by John Burningham," Jean Russell remarked in Books for Your Children. Lafferty similarly praised The Shopping Basket as "one of the best children's books ever conceived. Not only is it a nicely moralistic tale," the critic explained, but its use of vocabulary and repetition make it "a near perfect book for children beginning to read." "Sound psychology, beautifully exact and humorous drawing, a restrained and rhythmic text, it is all here, adding up to a picture book which falls only a little short of perfection," a Junior Bookshelf writer commented.

In Granpa, Burningham turns away from comic situations to portray a little girl's relationship with her grandfather that is ended by his passing. With just a brief story, the author "suggests a whole life story for Granpa and shows a small girl reacting to death," Pat Triggs wrote in Books for Keeps. While death is a difficult subject to introduce to children, Burningham treats it "gently [and] poetically," Andrew Clements commented in the New Statesman, using "spare, immensely evocative" illustrations. Despite its sober ending, the book has humor in its "funny drawings"; Burningham "has not been more amusing, more wise," Marcus Crouch remarked in Junior Bookshelf. As a result, William Feaver stated in the London Observer, "Burningham has succeeded in dealing with what, since Victorian times, has been the impossible in picture-book terms: real-life death."

Although both his "Mr. Gumpy" and "Shirley" books have been popular enough to warrant further episodes, Burningham has deliberately avoided creating a long-running series. "I am very fond of Mr. Gumpy, but it would be awful to spend my life doing just Mr. Gumpy—or anything else," the author explained to Field. "The problem is that it is easier once you've established a character to keep it going. But I am always more interested in doing something I haven't done before."

Commissioned to write and illustrate a book for Japan's Expo '90, Burningham created Hey! Get off Our Train (British title, Oi! Get off Our Train!) about a little boy told by his parents to go to sleep and stop playing with his toy train. In his dreams he rides his train, and at every stop a new animal boards, ignoring the pleas to "get off our train." Each animal represents an endangered species.

In the picture book Aldo a large imaginary rabbit named Aldo is the only friend of a lonely little girl, protecting her from bullies at school and reading to her by night. Another caretaker animal is presented in Courtney, the story of children who badly want a dog, but the one they pick out from the pound is not quite the purebred animal their snobbish parents were hoping for. But Courtney turns out to be a Mary Poppins in dog clothing, capable of cooking, juggling, and rescuing all in turn. Deborah Stevenson commented in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that such a talented dog "will charm quite a few viewers … as Burningham, with his usual ability to make silent animals personable and friendly, depicts Courtney as a walrus-ish yet debonair individual who never loses his air of mystery." Kate McClelland noted in a School Library Journal review of Courtney that this "is all typically assured Burningham at his ironic best." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented on Burningham's "familiar cartoon mode" which is "poignantly expressive," and concluded that the book is "[w]itty, well told, and superbly illustrated."

Father Christmas gets the Burningham treatment in Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present, in which Santa, exhausted after delivering presents all night, discovers one he has overlooked. Poor little Harvey Slumfenburger is unlikely to get any other gifts this Christmas, Santa knows, so he sets out on foot to deliver it, having already tucked his reindeer into bed. Along the way, Santa finds a variety of transportation and meets other travelers in a book that could become "a classic," according to Keith Barker in School Librarian. Sheila Moxley called the book "poignant" and "lightly funny" in School Library Journal; "a fully realized story about the true spirit of Christmas." Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan drew special attention to Burningham's "signature ink drawings with watercolor washes" which "will keep children rapt."

In Cloudland and Whaddayamean?, Burningham experiments with a wide array of mixed media in his illustrations, particularly in the blending of photographic images with his own artwork. The former title tells the story of young Albert who, out hiking in the mountains with his parents, falls off a cliff. Happily he lands on a cloud, caught by cloud children who introduce him to all manner of lovely pastimes including swimming, painting, dancing, and making music. Seeing the lights of the city below, Albert finally remembers his family and desires to go home. Without question or approbation, his parents welcome the missing child home and tuck him into bed, as much a part of the fantasy as Albert himself. Booklist critic Julie Corsaro commented that "Burningham explores a common childhood fantasy in an impressively illustrated picture book," employing photographic images of clouds with his sketchy figures overlaid onto them in a three-dimensional effect. Corsaro concluded that Cloudland "is likely to be a favorite." A reviewer for Junior Bookshelf concluded that Cloudland "is a sumptuous example of John Burningham's skill in marrying the magic of the simple story with the splendid page after page of illustrations which will appeal to both reader and listener." George Hunt, reviewing the title in Books for Keeps, found it to be a "visually striking and entertaining book."

Even more stylistically innovative is Burningham's environmental story, Whaddayamean?, in which he mixes satellite photography, paintings, soft focus photos over-painted, pastels, pen and ink, and various other collage features. In the story, God wakes up one day and decides to visit earth, the paradise he/she once created. But now, accompanied by two earthling children found picnicking under a tree, God discovers things have gone terribly wrong on the planet, with pollution, killing, and starvation to be found in abundance. God entrusts the children the task of talking to benighted adults and getting them on the right path, which they do in this eco-fantasy. Rosemary Stones called the book a "fable for our times" in Books for Keeps, noting that the "impact is wrenching as the small figures are dwarfed by the scale of our planet's destruction." Joan Zahnleiter remarked in Magpies that Burningham "has given the creation story an ecological turn in this spectacular picture book." Zahnleiter went on to note that though there is a mixed bag of media in the artwork, "Burningham's consummate skill as an illustrator has brought them all into an harmonious whole which flows through the book along with the text."

In Hushabye, Burningham tells a bedtime story in which kittens, baby bears, fish, and other creatures all grow tired and go to bed. Each animal has his own special place and way of going to sleep. Told in what a critic for Publishers Weekly called "a simple narrative featuring intermittent rhyme," the story "strikes a restful and dream-like chord, and provides a perfect invitation to sleep," according to Lauralyn Persson in the School Library Journal. Gillian Engberg in Booklist praised "the irresistibly soothing sound, rhythm, and motion in the words." The critic for Horn Book noted the "friendly collage artwork" with which Burningham illustrated the book, while the Kirkus Reviews critic believed that the large type used for the text "will be visible in dim light," a definite plus for bedtime stories.

Burningham creates a different sort of bedtime story in his 2003 title The Magic Bed. In this story, young Georgie is too big for the crib he has been sleeping in. His father buys him an old bed from a used furniture store that is said to have magical abilities. If Georgie says the correct secret word out loud, the bed will take him on adventures in faraway places. When he discovers the magic word, he does indeed visit those distant places in his dreams. He visits a jungle where he helps a lost tiger cub find his parents. He unearths a pirate treasure hidden in a cave. When Georgie's grandmother eventually gets rid of the old bed and buys him a brand new one that does not have magical powers, Georgie has one last fantasy adventure anyway. Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist, believed that "Burningham's simple, sly sentences and whimsical mixed-media art will immediately transport children on their own imagined departures." Similarly, Amy Lilien-Harper, reviewing the title for School Library Journal, found that "with simple, word-perfect prose, Burningham captures a child's imagination." A Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that "Burningham's whimsical illustrations are a perfect match for his experienced, well-paced prose."

Burningham believes that maintaining his interest in his work contributes to its quality and broad appeal. Really great children's books, he wrote in Junior Bookshelf, "contain as much for adults as for children because the person who made them was concerned to satisfy himself as well as his readers. This is an attitude which anyone who embarks on creative work must have if he is to achieve anything."

"I enjoy making children's books—and I use the word 'making' rather than writing because I think of my books as a series of drawings held together by a thread of text," Burningham explained in Junior Bookshelf. "I enjoy it because it allows me to work with the maximum freedom and to carry out my own ideas." The author wants his readers to have freedom as well, he continued: "I try not to make my own drawings too formal and finished so that the child who is reading or looking can have the maximum freedom to imagine for himself. The sense of finding something out is as important in pictures as it is in words."

In a statement posted on the British Council for the Arts Web site, Burningham noted: "With each new book I think, can I do it again? Can I pull it off again? There are terrible moments when I feel I have lost it, and I have no ability. But then it all gets back on course. Drawing is like playing the piano, … you have to practise constantly to keep it fluent. Even after forty years it doesn't get any easier."

Writing in the Guardian, Joanna Carey attributed the continuing appeal of Burningham's picture books to his ability to see the world through a child's eyes: "Burningham understands and reflects the skewed logic and the strange, often urgent preoccupations that govern children's lives, and he recognises—with a mischievious, oblique humor—the gulf that lies between the child's and the adult's perceptions of the world."

According to New York Times Book Review contributor Vicki Weissman, Burningham has succeeded in using his "tremendous craft" to give his books an open, imaginative feeling. The critic remarked: "Burningham has long since grasped that all children need is a trigger and their imaginations will do the rest. What is more, he is content to leave it to them." In addition, his books excel because "he has the ability to capture in his simple drawings the essence and spirit of his characters—whether animals or people and portray them in a way that little children respond to," Russell wrote. "John Burningham," concluded Stephenson in the Carousel profile, "is a quiet man who has a deep respect for the value of words and chooses them carefully; who thinks deeply and cares passionately about the planet; and who, like many serious people, maintains a constant, warm under-glow of humour."