Synopses & Reviews
It's a pleasant day, so Mr. Gumpy decides to go for a boat ride. Each barnyard animal begs to join him, and Mr. Gumpy agrees-as long as each behaves! Two children join the fun, and as soon as the boat is launched, everyone does exactly what Mr. Gumpy asked them not to do. The result? Splash! This tale fits right into the toddler's sense of humor. Mr. Gumpy's Outing is the winner of the 1972 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books and a 1971 New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year.
Review
"Mr. Gumpys little scow becomes a miniature ark when he takes two children and one each of the various domestic animals for a ride. . . . The water appears so warmly inviting, and the tea they all share so satisfying, that the promise of the first glowing page is fulfilled. Burningham's sketchy yellow lines make the sun shine on his pages, and his animals--sometimes jaunty, more often appealingly hesitant--are his alone, unostentatiously distinctive. Mr. Gumpy has bumbling charm, and his outing is an unqualified pleasure.”--
Kirkus Reviews"A real charmer of a picture book for the very young."--Booklist
"Mr. Grumpy's Outing is out of sight."--School Library Journal
Synopsis
Mr. Gumpy's Outing is a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner and an American Library Association Notable Children's Book. In England, illustrator John Burningham, with Mr. Gumpy's Outing, became the first artist ever to win England's Kate Greenaway Medal twice.
Mr. Gumpy lives by a river. One sunny day he decides to take a ride in his small boat.
It is such a perfect idea, for such a perfect summer day, that he soon has company: first the children, then the rabbit, the cat, the dog, the pig, the sheep, the chickens, and still others until-- Mr. Gumpy's outing comes to an inevitable but not unhappy, conclusion.
Come for a ride another day, says Mr. Gumpy at the book's end. And young readers will return again and again to this sprightly story with its clever, captivating illustrations that reflect the sunlit quality of a lazy summer afternoon.
An ALA Notable Children's Book
A New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children's Book
A Child Study Association Children's Book of the Year
A Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year
About the Author
John Burningham is a highly acclaimed author and illustrator with numerous books to his credit. With
Mr. Gumpy's Outing, he became the first artist ever to win England's prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal twice. He lives in England.