Famous for creating James Bond, Ian Fleming also loved fast cars and this passion inspired him to write his only childrens book, penned for his young son, Caspar. Published fifty years ago in 1964, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang introduced the world to the thrilling adventures of the "crackpot" Pott family and the flying car with a mind of her own. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang became an instant bestseller that has been reinvented as a musical and a film (with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl) and has also inspired three sequels written by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

 

This is volume 1 in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang .

This book has been graded for interest at 9-12 years.

There are 176 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Candlewick Press (MA) .

Ian Fleming - famous across the globe for creating James Bond - loved cars. And the faster the car, the better. It was this love that inspired him to write his only children's book - CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG: THE MAGICAL CAR - about a car that could fly. Fast. John Burningham (1936-2019) studied illustration and graphic design at the Central School of Art, graduating with distinction in 1959. Many illustration commissions followed including iconic posters for London Transport, before the publication of Borka: the Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, Johns first book for children (Cape, 1963) which won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration and heralded the beginning of an extraordinary career. John Burningham has since written and illustrated over thirty picture books, that have been translated and distributed all over the world. These feature his classic and much loved childrens books including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by Ian Fleming (Jonathan Cape, 1964); Mr Gumpys Outing (Jonathan Cape, 1970) also awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal; Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (Jonathan Cape, 1972); The Shopping Basket (Random House, 1980); The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Penguin/Puffin, 1983); Granpa (Jonathan Cape, 1984) later made into an animated film and Oi! Get off our Train (Jonathan Cape, 1989) and various books for adults England (Jonathan Cape, 1992); France (Jonathan Cape, 1998); The Time of Your Life (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002) and When We Were Young (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004). Tug of War was republished in 2012, and a special edition of Borka, celebrating 50 years in print, was published in June 2013. Picnic appeared in the autumn of 2013 and The Way to the Zoo was published in the UK in 2014. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is celebrating its 50th year in print with a limited edition in hardback to be published in 2015.