The Magic Bed

by John Burningham

Georgie has got a new bed, but it's not like other beds. For each night, Georgie says the magic word and it whisks him away on a fantastic adventure. He loves his bed, but one day he and his family go on holiday, and when they come back, Granny has a big surprise for Georgie ...

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Adventure, Fantasy, Magic

Paperback

First published March 6, 2003

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bur...

Married to Helen Oxenbury They have one son and two daughters.

John Burningham was born in 1936 in Farnham, Surrey, and attended the alternative school, Summerhill. In 1954 he spent two years travelling through Italy, Yugoslavia and Israel, working at a variety of jobs.

From 1956-1959, he studied at the Central School of Art, after which he designed posters for London Transport and the British Transport Commission. He also spent a year on an animated puppet film in the Middle East. He then became a writer and illustrator of children's books, his first book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers (1963) winning the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1963, an achievement he repeated with Mr Gumpy's Outing (1970).

Since then, he has written and illustrated many children's books. He is also a freelance designer of murals, exhibitions models, magazine illustrations and advertisements.

Reviews

[Naz]

With charming illustrations and well chosen words, this book is a must read for early years, my 5 year old brother loves reading this book time and time again. The story is about an interfering grandmother and a lonely little boy called Georgie who enjoys wonderful adventures at night in his magic bed. Georgie needs a new bed. He chooses a nice second hand bed, much to his grandmother's disapproval. However, the bed is a magic bed and, once Georgie finds the magic word, he can fly on adventures. He finds tigers in the jungle, witches in the sky and sometimes he swims with the dolphins (which is why his bed is sometimes wet in the mornings...). Then when he goes on holiday his grandmother switches his beloved bed for a nice new one from the shopping center. Can disaster be averted? This is a lovely story, very imaginative and clever.

[Francesca Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georgie is on his way to the shopping centre to get a new bed when he sees one he likes in a shop window. He wants it as it is magical. When he is lying in bed, he has to think of a word beginning with m and ends in y for the magic bed to work. After trying lots of different words the bed takes him on an adventure in his sleep. The first night he travels to the city and each night he explores different places. This book would be great to help with phonics for thinking of words that start with m and end in y. children could come up with their own versions for other letters too.

[Joe Wilson]

John Burningham manages to entertain and delight again, in 'The Magic Bed', a story with all the characteristic Burningham verisimilitude. Amidst a muted water colour palette, we follow Georgie on a decidedly idiosyncratic adventure, which is moral with moralising. I highly recommend anything by Burningham. I previously read this with a girl in Year 2, and re-reading it now I still find it very poignant.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this title is written and illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators I didn’t enjoy the story as the text seemed choppy and had little flow to it. While it is a bedtime story and we see young George dreaming very different dreams in his magic bed the entire premise of the book just did not appeal to me.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bedtime story of a boy and his ‘new’ magic bed. Makes you think about the power of imagination, and the fantasy within reality we all once had as a child.

+ Absolutely adore Burningham’s water colour, sketchy illustration.

[Stephanie Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The magic bed is a great book about a boy who has a magic bed which takes him on exciting adventures. The book links to children dreaming in bed.

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why does Granny throw away his bed?! Who does that? It was giving "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" until it was giving Karen.

[Charlotte Dutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Bed is another beautifully illustrated story and is part of the John Burningham collection.

As Georgie outgrows his childhood bed he finds a new and improved one with magical powers. Although his Granny teases him about his second hand bed, every night Georgie goes on a magical adventure in it. One night he is helping a lost tiger find his parents and the next he is racing witches through the night sky. But when returning from holiday, Georgie finds his bed has been replaced by a brand new one! Devastated, Georgie retrieves his magic bed from the dump and flies off into the sky for the next adventure.

Like most John Burningham books, this eye-catching and imaginative story has extensive cross-curricular links. It can be used in Literacy, Mathematics, Geography, Art and Design and Drama. By creating their own versions of the story children can be introduced to imaginative writing as well as aspects of Mathematics. When identifying where they would go on their magical beds, children can be encouraged to talk about the distance they would need to travel to get to there and how long they think it might take them. This is also an excellent way to introduce children to concepts of Geography for example, maps, environments and habitats. As part of their story they could include a map to make sure they do not get lost on their adventures. In their writing they can discuss and describe the environments and habitats they might visit having used research skills to gather information.

Burningham's books are always extremely eye catching because of his use of mix media illustrations and this book is no exception. It is a perfect resource to use when exploring the use of different materials in Art and Design. Keeping with the theme of adventures, pupils could be asked to illustrate an adventure using a range of different materials. This could then lead on to a further exploration of the adventure through story writing.

The way Burningham has captured a child's imagination and a child's relationship with their bed makes this is a fantastic book for either Key Stage 1 or 2. I would definitely recommend it!

[Liza Passalino]

Summary: This book is about a little boy, Georgie, who needs a new bed. His father takes him to the local shop in town to buy a bed, and the shopkeeper tells Georgie that this bed is magic. Georgie says his prayers that night before bed and comes up with a magic word, and soon the bed is taking him on all kinds of adventures. However, when Georgie leaves for vacation with his family, he returns to find that his grandma has replaced his magic bed with a new bed. He gets very upset and runs to the dumpster, jumps on his bed and flies away to a very distant land.
Major Theme(s): This book has a theme of adventure and of appreciating the undervalued things in life. The bed that is sold to Georgie is old and run-down, but Georgie thinks it is the best bed he has ever had.
Stars: 4 Stars
Personal Response: Georgie reminds me of myself when I was a kid because I loved going to bed. Even when I was really little I loved nap time and I would be the one to tell my parents it was time for my nap while we were playing. I think this book could be a good incentive to get children to go to sleep.
Recommendation: I recommend this book because I think it makes kids excited to go to bed. Georgie cannot wait to close his eyes and go to sleep because he gets to go on all these adventures. I also think that Georgie finds an appreciation for this bed that other kids would have found ugly.

[Ayesha Hussain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is about an grandmother which try's to do best for her grandson Georgie, even though Georgie only sees his own perspective. The story is set out when Georgie is looking for a new bed, and is on the look out for one in a charity shop with his grandfather , when looking the sales assistant directs Georgie to view one of his Magical bed. Which obviously the child chooses!However once he brings the bed home it much to his grandmother's disapproval. The grandfather discover a passage which they need to unlock to be able to have full effect of the magic bed with much guessing Georgie discovers the magic word which allows him to fly on his magical adventures. On this journey he is greeted by tigers in the jungle, witches in the sky and wildlife. The story however turns into one which is traffic for Georgie when his grandmother throws away his magic bed to replace it to an ordinary bed. Thankfully Georgie makes in time before the dump is closed and is reunited with his magic bed.


Both pictures and words were great for this book, really worked effectively in bring the image to life

[Nick Park · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written for all those in Early Years and KS1. I can imagine teachers reading this book to their class everywhere.
It centres on a little boy called Georgie who is in need of a new bed. He and Frank, his father, go in search to the shop to buy a new one and are told by the shop assistant that, “…it was magic.”
At night, whilst Georgie is sound asleep, this bed takes him to different places where he goes on many exciting adventures. I will not give too much away, but when he goes on holiday something has changed on his return and Georgie has a dilemma to tackle.
It is a wonderful book for developing children’s imagination in literacy and the reader and listener will gain great warmth and comfort from this story, as it is a book based around childhood.
Children will also enjoy Burningham’s illustrations as they are all in colour with great attention to detail from start to finish.
3 out of 5 would be my star rating in this circumstance as it gave me great warmth whilst reading although it did not have the wow factor for me.

[Drine Psylook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le lit de Lucas est trop petit. Sa grand-mère l’envoie avec Pierre en acheter un nouveau. Ils se rendent dans un magasin d’antiquités et trouvent leur bonheur : un lit magique qui leur permet de voyager à condition qu’ils trouvent le mot magique. Après plusieurs tentatives, le héros le devine et part toutes les nuits pour une nouvelle aventure.
Hormis la grand-mère, on ne sait pas trop qui sont les autres personnages qui gravitent autour de Lucas. Qui est Pierre par rapport au petit ? Qui est la blonde qu’on voit régulièrement avec la mamie ? C’est assez déroutant et un brin désagréable pour moi. Je n’ai pas accroché aux dessins, ils sont assez basiques mais pour moi, le pire, ce sont les décors et certains sont très sombres et absolument indescriptibles, limite dégueulasses pour certains (cf celui ci-dessous).
Ça s’est laissé lire sans plus.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute story of a little boy who goes shopping with his father for a used "new" bed for him. They find one and there's an inscription on it saying that if he knows the magic word, then he will travel far. After several attempts, he figures out the magic words and has many wonderful adventures until his grandmother - who never liked the bed in the first place - replaces it while he is on vacation. We, the readers, never do know what the magic word is, but are encouraged to discover our own magic words.

Cute, kinda rough illustrations.

[Anjumanara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book with a simple concept yet limitless scope for imagination for young children to identify with...The exitement of getting a new bed with a mysterious past and making it Georgie's own and also allowing the reader to join in by thinking of their own majic word leaves children mezmerised. With sketchy illustrations and endless adventures it is a must read to both EYFS and Key Stage 1 children although it's simple text make it accessible for them to read for themselves too.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this imaginative story about a boy who gets a bed at an antique store with his grandpa and finds out that it can take him places when he uses a certain magic word. This provided a perfect finish for our story time on "flying".

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for an imaginative adventure. But, there was something disjointed about this story. I kept thinking I had skipped a page or maybe they had been torn out. Nope. That detracted from the enjoyment for me.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book more than my 2 yo daughter did because the horrible grandmother threw the boy's bed away.

[Bree · Rating 1 out of 5]

Notes:
aimed at 2-4yo kids
why does he have to race witches?

[Maggi Rohde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doesn't everybody want a magic bed that takes them places? Pair with Van Allsburg's more sober Just A Dream.

[Amar Pai · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like John Burningham, but this is tossed off dreck. Really not worth it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore books that play up the imagination of a child, and refrain for talking down to the child. This book does both splendidly.