Papa Snap is a collector of hair-raising stories: like the one about Robinson Rutabaga, who ran away from home and took the family bathtub with him. Or the one about the hungry sofa. Or about Mr Balduin Breadcrumb, who gave his wife a steamroller for their silver wedding anniversary – very practical for ironing or rolling out pastry. Take a look at the pictures accompanying these sixteen bonkers, wonderful, genuinely original stories, and you will discover characters from Tomi Ungerer’s toy collection, which is on display at the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg.

It is a peaceful life the lobsters live there at the shore of Monhegan, mostly only interrupted by looking for the next tasty clam. A perfect idyll, if it wasn’t for the lobster traps, which, despite all the warnings, keep claiming victims. When they catch the uncle of young Daniel Lobster, he is determined to fight back. After being caught himself, he builds up a resistance group together with the other crustaceans, and starts to make life very difficult indeed for the big land creatures.

Frances doesn’t want to go to bed – just like every child in the world, just like you. But then her dad has a good idea: We'll play the face-making game! Frances has to look angry. Then happy. Then surprised. And now it’s your turn! Join Frances in making all sorts of faces: confused, sick, snooty, sweet, thoughtful ... It makes you really tired, and before you know it, it’s slumber time.

»One, Two, where's my Shoe? – Three, Four, on the Floor!« – These are the only words Tomi Ungerer needs for a story. The rest is told by his subtle and shrewd pictures, which seem to take the viewer for a fool – until he can't help but smile in recognition: Across the book's pages, Tomi Ungerer's pencil conjures up dragonflies, soldiers, scarecrows, a pig and even an ocean liner. And the line is always: ›One, Two, where's my Shoe?‹

Finn and Cara are brother and sister and live on the Irish coast, where sheep graze on the green cliffs, wind howls in the chimney and grey fog rises up above the sea.
One day, when the siblings are out rowing their boat in the bay, thick fog suddenly closes in around them and the current washes them upon an unknown beach. Finn and Cara have landed on Fog Island, from which no one has ever come back alive.
But they do not lose heart, and end up meeting the wondrous master of the island. From him, they learn where the fog comes from.

A picture book for both adults and children, about friendship, trust and humanity – a classic in the making.

We all need someone to look after us. And someone to care for.

Planet Earth is devastated and empty. Everyone has escaped to the moon. Only Vasco is still there, determined to bring little green Poco to safety. Luckily, he has an ally: his own shadow, which rescues him and the baby from a thousand threats – just in time! – and shows him the way on his adventurous journey through destroyed cities and apocalyptic landscapes. Right up until the unexpectedly sweet ending.

Giraffe and Mouse really don’t have much in common – it’s more than the fact that one of them is huge and the other is tiny. But when a fire threatens to destroy the forest, Mr. Tall and Mr. Small join forces to save all the animals.

One was big.
One was small.
Mouse was short.
Giraffe was tall.
Mouse was hardly there at all –
They called him Small.

Giraffe was tannish,
Mouse was gray,
Mouse liked night,
Giraffe liked day,
Giraffe could see three miles away –
They called him Tall.
 

Apart from ideas, sketches and drawings, Tomi Ungerer's notebooks show his predilection for aphorisms, puns and little stories. Out of this reservoir, a book has emerged for the first time which shows Tomi Ungerer's unusual side, which, however, is perhaps not that unusual after all: »I am a note-taker. I draw what I write down and I write down what I draw in order to express my thoughts clearly and succinctly«, as Ungerer himself puts it.

A Unique Christmas Book – Typical Tomi Ungerer Whoever wants to celebrate Christmas with Tomi Ungerer has something to look forward to: Tomi Ungerer is always good for a surprise. Christmas with him is guaranteed not to be the bleak, cloying, sugary festival of commerce and boredom. Nevertheless, Tomi Ungerer's ›Beware of Christmas‹ is a splendid house book completely stuffed like a stocking with both deceptive and surprising yet still contemplative stories and poems by authors from around the world: from Charles Dickens and Martin Suter to Doris Dörrie and Urs Widmer. And as a very special gift: the more than 70 colored drawings by Tomi Ungerer, who interprets Christmas dreamily, romantically, jokingly, cheekily, frivolously and subversively.

Finally they return: Tomi Ungerer's original picture book family – the marvellous Mellops. Whether as cave explorers or aircraft builders, when drilling for oil or hunting for treasure – it is soon apparent that the Mellops family is no ordinary family of pigs. The Mellops family love challenges. The result – spectacular lastminute rescues from a rubber dinghy punctured by stalagmites, forest fires and beaches on deserted islands ... But one thing is certain: having survived the most perilous adventures, the pigs can always look forward to Mrs. Mellops’ wonderful cream cake. All five adventures of the Mellops family in one volume.

Tomi Ungerer answers children’s questions with the irreverent wisdom of a great artist who has never forgotten his inner child. The column from ›Philosophie Magazine‹ – in book form for the first time. »Why am I not you, and why are you not me? Who created God? If someone hits me, is it ok to hit back? Why does money exist? Could it be that I am only dreaming my life? Is there such a thing as nothing? Why do we have to love others and not just ourselves?« The great philosophical questions remain the same, be it two thousand years ago or yesterday, whether we are eighty or eight years old. Tomi Ungerer, the world-famous artist and children’s book writer, is also an idiosyncratic thinker and an untiring champion against prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Children from France and Germany asked him their questions. Ungerer’s answers are surprising, cheeky, funny, thought-provoking – and always inspiring. A philosophy book that makes readers want to think – whether they are children or adults.

Tomi Ungerer has written and illustrated over two dozen children's books, picture books for children and adults. It began in 1957 with the adventures of The Mellops Family. Following famous children's classics such as ›Allumette‹, ›The Three Robbers‹, ›Zeralda's Ogre‹ and ›The Moon Man‹ he has now created a new masterpiece. ›Otto the teddy bear‹ tells the story of his unusual bear's life. One day he falls into the hands of David, a Jewish boy who lives somewhere in a German town. David and his best friend Oscar try to teach the bear to write, but this ends in disaster when Otto spills ink all over his coat and is left with a big lilac stain which marks him for the rest of his teddy bear's life. One day when the boys are playing happily with their teddy, the idyll is rudely interrupted by political changes. A journey into the unknown begins for Otto, and he passes from hand to hand until, after many years, he lands in loving arms once more.

Kopek is a small giant and Samovar a big dwarf. And, lo and behold, they are the same height! A girl races through the big dark forest on a scooter to visit her ill grandmother. Sounds familiar to you? In Tomi Ungerer's subversive fairytale about the power of relativity, the little heroine is called Zloty, and instead of a little red riding hood she wears a red motorcycle helmet. She not only encounters the big bad wolf but also small giants and tall dwarfs: For Zloty, Kopek and Samovar become friends for life. The story of a friendship that overcomes all obstacles – and all differences in height.

The Warsaw ghetto is in flames, only a few Jews are still alive. One of the last insurgents, Yosl Rakover, remains hidden in a burning house. With his fallen companions at his side and death swiftly approaching, he writes down the feelings of one of a million Jews whose family has been murdered in the Holocaust, whose people have been annihilated. Alongside all of the pain that he has suffered, he describes his longing for revenge and the sweet gratification at the sight of the dying enemy. In harsh words, Yosl Rakover takes to task his God, who has turned His back on the world; but despite all of these tests and punishments, he holds fast to his faith: In the final analysis, Rakover addresses God as a faithful believer but not an indebted petitioner, a lover of God but not a blind Amen-sayer. Originally a work commissioned by the Jewish Newspaper in Buenos Aires, 'Yosl Rakover Talks to God' established itself in its own right in remarkable fashion following its initial publication in the year 1946. For many years, the text, translated into countless languages, was purported to be an authentic document from the Holocaust – in anthologies, newspapers and radio broadcasts. In 1962, Emmanuel Levinas devoted an entire study to it, while the text was included in the Jewish prayer book in America and found its way into schoolbooks in Germany. The myth concerning the origin of the text continues to blossom. One hears that the manuscript was written by an anonymous author, or that the text is a work of fiction but that Yosl Rakover did indeed exist. Kolitz' attempts to remind the world of his authorship, which he had never denied, were mostly in vain – the myth is seemingly written in stone. After the library in Buenos Aires, where the original manuscript was rediscovered, was destroyed by fire as a result of a bomb attack, the fictitious history of Yosl Rakover's testament appeared to have found its analogy in reality.

Tomi Ungerer is nine years old in 1940 when German troops march into Alsace. German becomes the official language, French is banned under threat of severe punishment, and Jean-Thomas, who everyone calls Tomi, becomes Hans. Tomi Ungerer shares his experience of everyday life under Nazi occupation, of the war, of the libération — and of the utterly normal pranks, joy and experiences of a young boy growing up. Enriched with countless childhood drawings and Tomi Ungererʼs boundless humour, this is an incredibly spirited memoir.