PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
John Burningham studied illustration and graphic design at the Central School of Art, graduating with distinction in 1959. Many illustration commissions followed including iconic posters for London Transport, before the publication of Borka: the Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, John's first book for children (Cape, 1963) which won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration and heralded the beginning of an extraordinary career. John Burningham has since written and illustrated over thirty picture books, that have been translated and distributed all over the world. These feature his classic and much loved children's books including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by Ian Fleming (Jonathan Cape, 1964); Mr Gumpy's Outing (Jonathan Cape, 1970) also awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal; Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (Jonathan Cape, 1972); The Shopping Basket (Random House, 1980); The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Penguin/Puffin, 1983); Granpa (Jonathan Cape, 1984) later made into an animated film and Oi! Get off our Train (Jonathan Cape, 1989) and various books for adults England (Jonathan Cape, 1992); France (Jonathan Cape, 1998); The Time of Your Life (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002) and When We Were Young (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004). John is married to the illustrator, Helen Oxenbury. They have three children, three grandchildren and a dog named Miles. They live in London.
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. * The Sunday Times * 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. * The Times *
