Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham

What could be nicer than a day spent punting on the river with Mr Gumpy? Mr Gumpy, who is in charge of the boat trip, asks each of his passengers to play by the rules and when they all do, everything is harmonious and happy. Yet once they start misbehaving, carnage ensues. The moral of the tale is if you rock the boat, you will quite literally fall out! At the end of the story, the boat’s passengers sit down for tea with Mr Gumpy, which has an innocent Famous Five quality about it. This is a lovely story to read aloud, as the language skips fluidly from one page to the next. The intricate line drawings use a limited colour pallet of sepia tones, browns, greens and yellows; unusual for a children’s picture book and sets it apart from others in the classics’ catalogue.