John Burningham's 1970 award-winning story begins--"This is Mr. Gumpy." (Note: NOT Grumpy)
A Kirkus reviewer said it well: "Mr. Gumpy's little scow becomes a miniature ark when he takes two children and one each of various domestic animals for a ride... The water appears so warmly inviting, and the tea they all share so satisfying, that the promise of the first glowing page is fulfilled. Burningham's sketchy yellow lines make the sun shine on his pages, and his animals--sometimes jaunty, more often appealingly hesitant--are his alone, unostentatiously distinctive. Mr. Gumpy has a bumbling charm, and his outing is an unqualified pleasure."
