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Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car
- Author: John Burningham
- Category: Fiction Graphic / Illustrated
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape (UK)
- Pub date: 5 April 1979 (original)
- Length: 32 pages
About Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car
Mr Gumpy has decided to go for a ride in his motor car. It’s a nice day and the sun is shining, so off he goes. But he only gets as far as the lane before the children, the rabbit, the cat, the dog, the pig, the sheep, the chickens, the calf and the goat ask if they can come along too. As the motor car and its passengers make their way across the field, the weather begins to turn and the rain is soon pouring down. The tyres cannot grip the muddy ground, so Mr Gumpy asks for volunteers to push the car. But everyone has an excuse, until it gets so bad that they all have to get out and help. Eventually, the sun shines once more as they drive across the bridge - and there’s time for a swim on the way home.
About the Author
John Burningham is one of the UK’s most distinguished illustrators whose appeal is recognized the world over. Born in 1936, he attended the alternative education establishment, Summerhill, in Suffolk, where lessons are not compulsory. At 17, he became a conscientious objector, and avoided military service by joining the Friends Ambulance Unit. After this he did forestry work, farming, slum clearance, school building in Southern Italy and demolition work in Israel. He went to the Central School of Art in London in 1956, graduating in 1959 with a National Diploma in Design, as well as the School’s own Diploma. Unsure of his future, he returned to Israel where he worked on models and puppets for a film company until his return to England in the autumn of 1960 when his life as an illustrator began. He created posters for London Transport, drew cartoons for magazines and made Christmas card designs until the publication of his first book in 1963. He has won the Kate Greenaway medal twice. He is married to Helen Oxenbury, another popular children’s illustrator.