John Burningham

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	Photo: © Bloomsbury

Biography

John Burningham was born in 1936 in Farnham, Surrey, and attended the alternative school, Summerhill. In 1954 he spent two years travelling through Italy, Yugoslavia and Israel, working at a variety of jobs.

From 1956-1959, he studied at the Central School of Art, after which he designed posters for London Transport and the British Transport Commission.  He also spent a year on an animated puppet film in the Middle East. He then became a writer and illustrator of children's books, his first book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers (1963) winning the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1963, an achievement he repeated with Mr Gumpy's Outing (1970).

Since then, he has written and illustrated many children's books. He is also a freelance designer of murals, exhibitions models, magazine illustrations and advertisements.

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Genres (in alphabetical order)

Children, Illustration

Bibliography

Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1963

ABC   (author)   Cape, 1964

Trubloff: The Mouse Who Wanted to Play the Balalaika   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1964

Humbert, Mister Firkin and the Lord Mayor of London   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1965

Birdland (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1966

Cannonball Simp   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1966

Lionland (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1966

Storyland (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1966

Harquin: The Fox Who Went Down into the Valley   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1967

Jungleland (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1968

Wonderland (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1968

Seasons   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1969

The Extraordinary Tug-O-War   (illustrator)   Bodley Head, 1969

John Burningham's A B C   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1970

Mr Gumpy's Outing   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1970

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang : The Complete Adventures of the Magical Car   (illustrator)   Cape, 1971

Around the World (wall frieze)   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1972

Around the World in Eighty Days   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1972

Mr Gumpy's Motor Car   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1973

The Baby   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1974

The Rabbit   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1974

The School   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1974

The Snow   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1974

The Blanket   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1975

The Cupboard   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1975

The Dog   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1975

The Friend   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1975

Come Away from the Water, Shirley   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1977

Time to Get Out of the Bath, Shirley   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1978

Would You Rather...   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1978

The Shopping Basket   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1980

Avocado Baby   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1982

Count Up   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1983

Five Down   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1983

Just Cats   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1983

Pigs Plus   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1983

Read One   (author/illustrator)   Viking, 1983

Ride Off   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1983

The Wind in the Willows   (illustrator)   Kestrel, 1983

Cluck Baa   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Granpa   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1984

Jangle Twang   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Skip Trip   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Slam Bang   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Sniff Shout   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Wobble Pop   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1984

Where's Julius?   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1986

John Burningham's Alphabet Book   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1987

John Burningham's Colours Book   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1987

John Burningham's Numbers Book   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1987

John Burningham's Opposites Book   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1987

John Patrick Norman McHennessy: The Boy Who Was Always Late   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1987

A Grand Band   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1989

Oi! Get Off Our Train   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1989

Aldo   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1991

England   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1992

Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1993

Courtney   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1994

First Steps: Letters, Numbers, Colours, Opposites   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 1994

Cloudland   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1996

France   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1998

Whadayamean?   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 1999

For Every Child:The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Words and Pictures   (contributing illustrator)   Hutchinson/UNICEF, 2000

Husherbye   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 2000

The Time of Your Life: Getting On With Getting On   (compiler/illustrator)   Bloomsbury, 2002

Letters   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 2003

The Magic Bed   (author/illustrator)   Cape, 2003

When We Were Young: A Compendium of Childhood   (compiler/illustrator)   Bloomsbury, 2004

Edwardo the Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World   Cape, 2006

It's a Secret!   (author/illustrator)   Walker, 2009

Read about books by John Burningham at encompassculture.com - the British Council's book database and global online book club

Buy books by John Burningham at Amazon.co.uk

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Prizes and awards

1963   Kate Greenaway Medal   Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers

1970   Kate Greenaway Medal   Mr Gumpy's Outing

1984   Kurt Maschler Award   Granpa

2000   Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Bronze Award)   (0-5 years category)   Husherbye

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Contact information

Publisher (General enquiries) Jonathan Cape Ltd Random House UK Ltd 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London  SW1V 2SA England Tel: +44 (0)20 7840 8539 Fax: +44 (0)20 7932 0077 http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/

Agent Conville & Walsh Ltd 2 Ganton Street London  W1F 7QL England Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 3030 Fax: +44 (0)20 7287 4545 E-mail: 'first name'@convilleandwalsh.com

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