Tomi Ungerer

Last July I was so pleased to read The New York Times profile of Tomi Ungerer and learned that his books were being brought back into print in this country by Phaidon.  For those unfamiliar with his art, check out this gallery of images.  There is also this PW article on the relaunching.  But I want to also draw attention to his wonderful memoir, Tomi: A Childhood Under the Nazis.  Ungerer was eight when the Nazis occupied his home in Alsace in 1940 and his family seems to have saved everything. The result is a fascinating and gorgeous book. Ungerer tells his story straightforwardly and fleshes it out with copious primary sources.  Covers and interiors of his schoolbooks (full of Nazi imagery), drawings, stamps from the period, photogeaphs, and much more fill every page.

To end, here is an animated version of  The Three Robbers (evidently only available in German and French right now):