Cloudland by John Burningham
It took me a while to get John Burningham. For a while I thought his drawing was a bit rubbish. Now I agree with Raymond Briggs, creator of The Snowman, who describes him as ‘one of the greatest book illustrators of the century. John’s work is completely original, unlike anything before or since’ . Delightfully he adds, ‘That said, Burningham is a blooming nuisance. He should retire now. After all, he is very old. But, no doubt he will go on and on, doing yet more brilliant stuff.’ And of course he did.
Of Cloudland John Burningham himself said, ‘People have all sorts of ideas on what the story is about. Perhaps it’s about death and reincarnation. Who knows?’ That gives a clue to why the book is special. It takes a certain very valuable kind of courage to create something in such a state of trust.
So in one way it may indeed be about death and transformation, but in another way it communicates a great trust in the Universe, like Albert trusting the clouds he plays on.
