Description A work that vividly and joyfully depicts a community built on diversity, respect, and consideration. This classic picture book won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1971. It tells the story of children and animals who set off on a boat trip with their neighbor, Mr. Gumpy. Mr. Gumpy lets them all come aboard, but only on the condition that they don't shout, don't tease, and don't quarrel. Of course, the children and animals can't help but do exactly that. In the end, the boat tips over and everyone gets soaked, but they all return home happily and share a cup of tea together. The short, halting sentences—written in a style reminiscent of a young child just learning to speak—give the book a wonderful sense of warmth and familiarity. John Burningham's illustrations themselves resemble a child's drawings. Yet the children depicted here are not the typical cute, beaming, smiling children. Burningham's children don't really smile; he strips that expression away from the characters in his picture books. The seemingly unpolished, childlike quality of his drawings seems to capture the genuine feeling of returning to one's own childhood. The language of the book, too, is short and halting, like the speech of a child who has just learned to talk. Burningham freely mixes a wide variety of materials and textures within a single picture book—paint, crayon, watercolor, pastel, charcoal, ink, and more all burst forth into the world of his books. He is known as an author who typically spends a long time conceiving and completing each picture book, and a careful look at his illustrations reveals that his distinctive style was built through years of careful study and practice. The 'Mr. Gumpy' series represents the early picture books in which Burningham began to establish his own unique style. Of these, 'Mr. Gumpy's Outing,' published first, won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1971. Set against a quiet rural backdrop, these picture books resist speed and hurry. That resistance takes a quiet, passive form—turning away from noise and change to sink softly into a world of dreams. The language used throughout is entirely ordinary and everyday, yet the illustrations slowly sail through a dreamlike world suspended in the stillness of midday. When you open the first page of 'Mr. Gumpy's Outing,' the outlines recede into the background sketch, and the space is filled instead with lines alone. It gives a slightly dizzying feeling, like looking directly at the noon sun. At the center of it all stands Mr. Gumpy, holding a watering can—he is the matchmaker who bridges the everyday world and the world of dreams. One by one, he lets the children and animals aboard and sets off on their boating trip. Within the book, a single space is divided across the spread, with black-and-white and full-color worlds crossing directly into one another. The black-and-white illustrations carry the narrative forward, with the everyday language placed alongside them on the same page. The full-color illustrations, meanwhile, are used to capture and magnify the imagery caught within a child's dream.