This extravagantly designed, exclusive art volume presents approx. 330 illustrations, paintings and collages, many of them previously unpublished. 

Angry and ironic, tender and wonderful: Tomi Ungerer’s America in pictures and texts.

When Tomi Ungerer moved from the Alsace to New York in the mid-1950s and began to work as a graphic designer and illustrator, a crazy new world opened itself up to him, which the talented artist transformed into what are perhaps the most remarkable and powerful works of his career. Expressive and universal pictures which present the land of opportunities in a unique manner.

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.

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.

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.

»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?‹

Idi and his parents have moved to a new town. He doesn't know anyone there and so nobody comes to his birthday. Thank goodness that, since he was little, his father has always given him tools as presents – at least Idi has something with which to keep himself busy. Out of the things that others throw away, he makes that which he does not have: friends. When Ki, the girl next door, hears the noise coming from Idi's workshop, she grows curious. What is that boy doing? »I'm making friends for myself,« he replies. All of a sudden Ki wants to help out with her sewing machine. The two of them have a lot of fun: while making friends, they become friends. Idi's and Ki's imaginative creations soon fill the whole front garden – the other children come to marvel and would like nothing better than for Idi and Ki to show them how to make ›new friends‹ like that. A children's book about the power of friendship, overcoming prejudice, the joy of creating something together and the unifying force of art and imagination.

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.

Even before the volume ›Useless Thoughts‹, word got around that Tomi Ungerer was just as virtuous with a pen as with a pencil. He coaxes the deeper meaning from language, makes ludicrous connections, and twists and turns words come hell or high water. Wise jokes, revealing wordplay, pointed paradoxes – there is nothing more thoughtprovoking than reading these Tom-isms.

A treasure box of children's books by Tomi Ungerer with four of the greatest classics: ›The Three Robbers‹, ›Moon Man‹, ›I am Papa Snap‹, ›Crictor‹. Anniversary edition to commemorate Tomi Ungerer's 80th birthday.

For weeks now, all of the children in town have been hiding in trunks, barrels, and basements to avoid becoming the hungry ogre's breakfast – all of the children, that is, except Zeralda, who lives in a clearing in the woods and doesn't know much about ogres. She does, however, know everything about cooking, and the scrumptious feasts that she prepares transform the ogre's eating habits when they finally come face to face.

Tomi Ungerer's thirty melancholic as well as poetic images about the slow death of a fishing village formerly hardly touched by civilization and situated at the end of the world: Lockport in Nova Scotia. An art book which is at the same time a touching illustration and extension of Tomi Ungerer's autobiographic report »Here Today, Gone Tomorrow«.

Long ago, in a wonderful old castle with tall towers and lots of secret rooms, there lived a sorcerer who could weave all kinds of spells. This sorcerer had a young and rather lazy apprentice who worked for him in return for lessons in magic. One day, when the sorcerer was away from the castle, his apprentice conveniently forgot what he had been taught: that magic is more than just casting a spell! He unlocked the secret magic book, memorized a secret magic spell, and decided to use it to save himself some work: Sharrrroom ta! Sharrrroom ta! Old broom perk, bring water and do all my work! And with that, the old broom in the corner came to life and began bringing buckets of water up the steep stone steps to the castle from the river below. The young apprentice was delighted – until the water began to flood the castle and he realized that he didn't know the magic words to make the broom stop!

Orlando, the brave vulture, begins his series of heroic deeds, down Mexico way, when he starts searching for a lost gold miner who has gone astray in the cactus-studded deserts of Chihuahua.
Trying to help the missing man's worried wife and son, Orlando encounters a menacing pack of night-riding, gunslinging bandits, everyone of whom (huge sombrero, sinister moustache) is a dead ringer for Pancho Villa.

All children who love an ambush or a hairbreadth escape, a mad pursuit or a perfectly happy surprise ending will revel in this uproarious adventure south of the Rio Grande. So will gringos of all ages.

»For 'normal' human beings a torture chamber is hell. However, for other people the normal, everyday world is hell and the torture chamber is a cell of refuge, isolated from the outer world by a protective dominatrix – a guardian angel from hell. In this work, I am concerned with a question which I have asked myself again and again throughout my life: what is normal?«

Why are sea horses always fidgety on Fridays? And how can you tell when a Rolls-Royce is hungry? You don’t know? Don’t worry, because it turns out the whole world is a question mark. Or at least the world created in this book of questions by Tomi Ungerer’s ingenious drawings: never before has someone created such cryptic but beautiful shenanigans with a punctuation mark. Pictures you will wish to look at again and again, absurd questions without answers, illustrations of unique beauty: this book is sure to leave all questions open!