Lost worlds - Anne Rooney

Sadly, the brilliant illustrator John Burningham died on the 4th of January. He is one of the 'old guard', a generation of illustrators whose books have charmed, soothed and delighted young readers for more than half a century. His first book won the Greenaway in 1963. I was a toddler at the time, his very first generation of readers.

Already in the 1960s some of the world in his illustrations was the older part of the world, but only just. There were cars like Mr Gumpy's on the streets, though they were not generally full of farm animals.

There were horses pulling various vehicles, including the rag and bone man's cart (before recycling had a name). We did go shopping (on foot) with a basket like this:

The first train I went on looked rather like this:

 We visited farms where there were cows in fields, and pigs and chickens running around. We even, sadly, went to zoos where animals were in small, bare cages. We ate teas that looked just like this (with more human and fewer animals guests):

And if I had X-ray vision, this is exactly what I would have seen in my grandparents' bathroom (and in my own bathroom today, to be fair):

For today's readers, the world doesn't look much like this. The beauty and charm of the pictures that once blended the fantastic into the real and familiar is undimmed, but now the fantasy part is a little bigger. The pictures can take it. The reality was magical even when it was real. But the loss of this wonderful man and his enduring talent puts a little more sadness in a world that has lost far too much already.

Thank you, John, from three generations of my family.

Anne Rooney

Dinosaur Atlas, Lonely Planet
Winner: SLA 8-10, 2018
Shortlisted: Royal Society Young People's Book Award, 2018