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Oi! Get Off Our Train

by John Burningham

Interest age: 3+
Reading age: 5+

Published by Red Fox, 2011

  • Classics
  • Picture books

About this book

A welcome republication of a thirty-year old modern classic from a prolific author and illustrator who deservedly has been nominated for the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen award.

As a small boy drifts off to sleep he dreams that he is taking a journey around the world in his model train. He visits many different habitats where endangered animals beg a lift on the train to escape their impending extinction, brought about by the thoughtlessness and greed of those who misuse the environment. Initially unwilling to take more passengers, he relents as he hears each creature's plight.

Burningham's characteristic soft-focus illustrations atmospherically capture both the dream setting, and the impending danger which faces so many species, all of them unique and irreplaceable.

About the author

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. It won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration and heralded the beginning of an extraordinary career spanning 50 years.

John Burningham has since written and illustrated over 30 picture books, which 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; Mr Gumpy’s Outing, also awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal; Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne; The Shopping Basket; The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame; Granpa, later made into an animated film; Oi! Get off our Train; and various books for adults.

John is married to the illustrator, Helen Oxenbury. They have three children, three grandchildren and a dog named Miles. They live in London.

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