The Magic Bed

Description

A beautifully illustrated, engaging look at the limitlessness of the imagination. Classic Burningham. Georgie has got a new bed, but it's not like other beds. For each night, Georgie says the magic word and it whisks him away on a fantastic adventure. He loves his bed, but one day he and his family go on holiday, and when they come back, Granny has a big surprise for Georgie . . .

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.

Burningham's a dab hand at leaving a story hanging in mid-air, and, a s ever, this moving and poetic hymn to the power of imagination invites and rewards any amount of personal interpretation -- Joanna Carey * Guardian * The book has its moments of suspense and an engagingly suggestive ending, but best of all is the succinct, expressive, sketchy style, which communicates emotions, characters, settings and atmosphere with great precision -- Nicolette Jones * The Sunday Times * Burningham's story taps into the limitless realm of a child's imagination. It's a classic tale from one of the best around -- Damian Kelleher * Metro Life * The story has a strong appeal because it is a fantasy that is true to reality: everyone has a kind of magic bed -- Jane Doonan * TES * An ideal showcast for what Burningham does best: blending domestic detail with expressionistic emotion and scale -- Sally Williams * Independent *