John Burningham is a British picture book master. He was born in 1936 and died on January 4, 2019. I read about him in Marcus’s book “Why Picture Books Matter—Twenty-one Interviews with the World’s Top Illustrators.”

Speaking of John Burningham's creative success, many comments will mention that his experience of attending Summerhill School at the age of twelve had a profound impact on his life.

In Marcus's interview, Burningham also talked about "children succeed through love, not the suppression and punishment of authority" implemented by Principal Neil of Summerhill School, and his "Uncle Gump" series ”, Uncle Gump is more or less Mr. Neil.

His life experience is very rich. He refused to perform military service when he was young, so he went to Scotland, Italy, Israel and other places to perform alternative service. Afterwards, he studied at the Central College of Art in London, where he met his wife Helen Oxenbury.

Many masters who create children's books seem to have entered the "children's book world" by mistake, and then locked in the fate of sticking to children's books for the rest of their lives. Burningham too.

There is always the concept of "children first" in Burningham's picture books. His picture books are like "parents' books", allowing us to "see" our children more clearly. When dealing with children, we must remember the "understanding, trust, equality, and freedom" we believe in, and also warn us not to become self-righteous, nagging, and annoying adults.

(John Burningham has published about twenty kinds of works in China. We have only read these, so we cannot say that we know this great picture book creator very well. What a great creation. The book is magical, every book on the bookshelf, even "Sally, Stay Away from the Water" which I thought a three-year-old child would not be able to understand, the little person is also fascinated by it)

01

Bored adults and interesting children

Bored adults and interesting children can be seen everywhere in John Burningham's picture books. "Sally, Stay Away from the Water", "Sally, Have You Taken a Bath", and "Edward: The Scariest Boy in the World", there is an annoying adult in these books.

Especially in the Sally series, the adults in the book keep saying: "Sally, don't get your shoes dirty" "Sally, stay away from the water" "Sally, come and drink some water" "Many people don't have bathtubs." "Look at the clothes thrown all over the floor." "Sally..." I have looked like this annoying many times since I became a mother.

The composition of the Sally series has the author’s obvious intention. The facing pages use completely different drawing methods. The page where the adults talk has simple lines and dull colors; while the page describing the world of children uses oil paintings with bright colors. The juxtaposition of the worlds of adults and children creates a sharp contrast.

In "Edward the Scariest Boy in the World", Edward is considered the rudest boy in the world when he kicks something when he wakes up in the morning; sometimes when Edward is noisy, a voice will say, you He is the noisiest boy in the world; if Edward bullies children sometimes, he will be told that you are the worst boy in the world; if Edward sometimes chases animals, he will be criticized and said that you are the most unloving boy in the world; Edward would sometimes be considered the sloppiest boy when he dirty his room and didn't remember to brush his teeth...

So, day after day, week after week, month after month, Edward really became I dislike cleanliness, brutality, messiness, slovenliness, noisy and rudeness less and less.

After reading it to my child many times, I found that on every page where adults criticize Edward, the adults look down at the child, condescending; in the first half of the book, Edward becomes smaller every time he is criticized, Until it becomes very small... In the second half of the picture book, Edward is affirmed and encouraged, and the colors of the picture become warm and bright.

In this book, you can see the influence that John Burningham received at Summerhill School. In an interview with Marcus, he also said that the philosophy of Mr. Neal, the founder of Summerhill School, is that children achieve success through love, not through suppression and punishment by authority.

We may have been treated this way in the past; and we may also be the adults who judged Edward.

I often say such unreasonable things. When you see picture books scattered on the floor, toys scattered on the floor, and clothes in a mess, you will be tempted to tag them and say harsh words.

In the relationship between adults and children, John Burningham has always stood by the children without hesitation. As a more powerful adult with more power, you need to be cautious in the way you treat your children and remind yourself not to become such an annoying adult.

02

? Create picture books with the mood of a "five-year-old child"

John Burningham's picture books are full of imagination and unrestrained. He said that he lives in He has a "five-year-old child", so his picture books make the child feel close to him. I just started reading "Baby", which is the first picture book written by John Burningham and won the Kate Greenaway Award, the British children's picture book award. "Baby Avocado", "Magical Magic Bed", "Secret Zoo", "Tug of War", "Picnic" and "Children in the Clouds" are all books that I have to read several times after reading them once.

It seems to be a very useful criterion to judge whether a picture book is good or not and whether the children want to reread it.

"Avocado Baby" tells the amazing story of a baby who loves avocados. The Ha family's baby was very thin, and Ha's mother gave birth to another baby, hoping that he would be stronger. But this little baby doesn't like to eat. No matter what Mother Ha does, he won't eat. Mother Ha is very sad.

One day, Ha’s brothers and sisters found an avocado and asked their mother to give it to baby Ha. Baby Ha loves avocados very much. Once he eats them, he gets out of control. He eats an avocado every day and becomes a strong man. The avocado baby who loves to eat avocados chased away thieves who broke into the house in the middle of the night, bad classmates who bullied his brothers and sisters, and helped his mother carry heavy objects... The avocado baby is getting stronger and stronger, and he still eats avocados every day.

Is this a picture book advertising avocados? I later learned that one of John Burningham’s children loved avocados. It just so happens that burgers are too, and to increase her affinity for this picture book, I changed the avocado to something more familiar to burgers. We acted out excerpts from the book while eating, and made Burger, who didn't like vegetables, eat a lot of vegetables.

Maybe every child has dreamed of having a "secret zoo" at home

In "The Magic Bed", George bought the bed from the second-hand market. At night, he chanted the spell, He took him to various parts of the world and experienced many interesting things. In "The Secret Zoo", Selvi's room has a secret passage, which leads to a mysterious zoo, which is also Selvi's secret paradise. In "Children on the Clouds", Albert went hiking with his parents. Albert accidentally fell down the mountain and was caught by the children on the clouds. He walked and swam in the clouds with the children on the clouds, and finally returned to himself. Home.

Every storyline has ups and downs, and the little baby is tightly pulled. The story is wild and incredible; adults will think, huh? How is that possible? It's so unreasonable, and this is exactly the kind of story children like.

03

Warm "Uncle Gump"

There are many commentaries saying that John Burningham is like children "Uncle Gan", a gentle and tolerant elder image. John Burningham appears with the children in the series "River Cruise with Uncle Candy" and "Going for a Ride with Uncle Candy".

"Going on the River with Uncle Gump" was also John Burningham's Kate Greenaway Award-winning work

"

He is Uncle Gump.

Uncle Gan had a boat, and his home was by the river.

One day, Uncle Gan was going to go boating on the river.

Two people. The child said: "Let's go together, okay?" ”

Uncle Gan said: “That’s fine, as long as you don’t make any noise.”

The hare said: "Uncle Gan, can I go too?" ”

Uncle Gan said: “It’s OK, but you can’t jump around.” "

The cat said: "I really want to go back to the boat. ”

Uncle Gan said: “Okay, but you can’t chase the rabbit.”

The dog said: “Can you take me with you?” "

Uncle Gan said: "Yes, you can, but you can't mess with the cat."

The pig said: "Uncle Gan, can I go?" Please please. ”

Uncle Gan said: “Come on, but you can’t swing back and forth.” "

The sheep said: "Is there any room for me to sit? ”

Uncle Gan said: “There is room, but you can’t bleat.” "

Chicken also said: "Can we go too? ”

Uncle Gan said: “Yes, yes, but you can’t flap your wings.” "

Niu said: "Can you make room for me? ”

Uncle Gan said, “Yes, as long as you don’t step on things.” ”

The goat said: Uncle Gan, can I join you?

Uncle Gan said: Welcome, but don’t kick around.

At first, everyone

But just after a while,

goats kicked,

cows stepped on things,

chickens flapped their wings, < /p>

The sheep bleated,

The pigs swayed back and forth,

The dog provoked the cat,

The cat chased the rabbit,

The rabbits jumped around,

The children made a fuss,

and the boat capsized...

Everyone fell into the water. .

Uncle Gan swam to the shore with goats, cows, sheep, pigs, cats, rabbits, and children, and then climbed ashore to let the sun dry their bodies.

Uncle Gan said, We had to walk through the grass and go home.

After drinking tea, Uncle Gan said: "Goodbye, let's go to the river again next time." "

"

"Going for a ride with Uncle Gan" is a similar story (both books were translated by Taiwanese children's literature writer Lin Liang).

The dogs, cats, pigs, rabbits, goats, and chickens in the story are all like children. They love to play, are curious, and are naughty. Although they swear "I promise," there are always problems every time they participate together.

Peng Yi mentioned in the introduction to "Swimming the River with Uncle Gan" that children grow up in the repetitive process of 'order → destruction of order → restoration of order (or the formation of a new order)' of.

But will the adults traveling with them get angry because their children disrupt order, thereby depriving the children of the opportunity to learn to build order?

Uncle Gan did not. He tolerated all the consequences brought by the children and invited them to play together next time. If we grow up with such adults, will we have happier children and, in turn, happier future adults?

04?

About life and death

"Mom gives birth to a baby", about the birth of life. The little human is full of curiosity about the baby in her mother's belly, and at the same time, she is also very worried. Finally, welcome the arrival of this little life with joy. When we read this book, we found that the style of painting in this book is different from that of John Burningham.

It turns out that this book was written by John Burningham and his wife ***. His wife, Helen Oxenbury, is also a children's book creator and a famous British illustrator. Some of the pictures were created by her wife. Regarding the topic of birth, it seems that children are naturally interested in it. After reading "Mom is Going to Have a Baby," Hamburg asked me to tell her birth story. You can tell from the light in the child's eyes that she likes this story of "where I come from."

This book is also very suitable for families who are expecting a second child.

Hamburger recently likes "Shit, fart, die..." She imitates the word solitaire game in Qiaohu , create your own solitaire, for example, Laura - shit -, and then burst into laughter. She asked me to tell the story of "Frog is dead" (the Frog series does not talk about Frog's death).

So, I briefly reviewed Frog’s life. After spending the spring, summer, autumn and winter with his friends, he finally died happily and peacefully. There was a bit of confusion on her face, and I guessed that this "death" seemed different from the "shit" she thought she was pooping. I asked her, do you know what death is? The three-year-old baby replied nonchalantly.

"Grandpa" is based on John Burningham's father-in-law. The story is affectionate and warm.

In the picture book "Grandpa", John Burningham also used the The opposite pages show different styles of painting. The left side is painted with single lines, and the right side is painted with light colored pencils. The right side shows the daily life of the grandfather and grandson: playing with flowers and plants in the flower room, playing house, playing on the beach, etc.; the left side shows two people. Nonsensical conversations.

Later, grandpa said, I can’t go out to play today. It can be seen from the picture that grandpa is sick. The little girl said, Grandpa, let’s go to Africa together tomorrow and you will be the captain. After saying this, turning another page showed the little girl staring lonely at an empty chair in front of her. At the beginning of the picture book, in her grandpa’s garden, the little girl asked grandpa, will earthworms go to heaven?

The whole article omits "grandpa said" and "little girl said", but uses two fonts to express the conversation between grandpa and the little girl. Reading the last page, Hamburg would ask, where is her grandfather? I collected my emotions and said calmly: Her grandfather passed away.

Hamburg’s answer: Are you going to heaven? Will you fall if you go to heaven? Oh, probably not, there are children on the clouds. Will they take grandpa in? Will grandpa live there in the future?

Well, right.

From John Burningham, we begin a small understanding of life and death.