Whadayamean

Description

God made the planet Earth into a paradise. But when he came to see how things were going he was appalled to find the sea had been made filthy, the air filled with fumes, forests burned, natural habitats destroyed, and half the world starving. So he entrusts two children to spread his message. John Burningham comes up with yet again with a book like no other. WHADAYAMEAN is a fascinating look at the damage we are doing to our environment. When God returns to the beautiful Earth we have misused, two small children are instructed to find a way of bringing people to their senses.

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 artwork is a wonder * TES * A thought-provoking fable . . . an excellent book for raising awareness * Independent * John Burningham is one of the most outstanding author-illustrators of children's books today * Twentieth-Century Children's Writers *