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Tomi Ungerer Discussion Continues
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From: linnea hendrickson <lhendr>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:42:38 -0600
Thanks, James for scanning the picture from "No Kiss for Mother." Perhaps over the weekend more of you will have a chance to look at some of Ungerer's books. I'd also like us to consider the questions that Kathy Whitt raised about the marriage of pictures and story in Ungerer's work, and his strong sense of graphic design.
Such books as "Moon Man" and "The Three Robbers" strike me as especially strong and simple in their design. But do we make of Ungerer's insertion of all kinds of strange details that may or may not have something to do with the story? In the picture from "No Kiss for Mother," notice the cat in the background carrying a section of pipe with a faucet, and something dripping out of it. In "Flix," too, there are faucets everywhere, including such unlikely places as the pedestal upon which stands the statue of St. Bernard ( a dog, of course) in the church. There's another one attached to a pool table, and also one attached to a garbage can. What do these signify, if anything?
I don't want to limit the discussion to Ungerer's picture books. Some of you may have recently read "Tomi," and wish to comment upon that. Perhaps someone is familiar with some of Ungerer's other work -- his posters and graphics and illustrations for adults -and would like to relate that to his work for children. Perhaps in the next week some of you will have a chance to look at some of the Ungerer classics: the Mellops books, Crictor, Rufus, The Three Robbers, Zeralda's Ogre, The Beast of Monsieur Racine, The Hat, or Allumette (a retelling of
"The Little Matchgirl.)"
The Andersen Award committee praised Ungerer as "bold, colorful, innovative, irreverent, and unique" and said he had created an "`Ungerian' world of satirical fantasy and sheer enjoyment."
Judith Viorst, writing in the NY Times Book Review in 1973, was obviously delighted with "No Kiss for Mother." "You can tell right away, the minute you see him glaring from the jacket: A sweetheart he isn't. .... What kid could resist?" She finds the book "fierce and funny," and says it is a
"book that understands about boys and their parents .... a book that is also for mothers--and not just for kids." Zena Sutherland in the _Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books_, on the other hand, feels the book "has a flat and hostile tone, with no humor to relieve the acid depictions of the female characters and a climax that seems to indicate that he who gets slapped sees reason." Valerie Alderson (_Children's Book Review_) finds the book unattractive "partly because of the dreary monochrome illustrations, but more, I think because there is an elusisve nastiness behind the story."
I have tried e-mailing TomiCo and Roberts Rinehart, Ungerer's new U.S. publisher, but have not had a response as yet. In fact, e-mails to TomiCo have returned as undeliverable. Does anyone know the status of the company at the moment?
Keep your comments coming, please, as we have one more week before moving on to Katherine Paterson.
Linnea
Linnea Hendrickson Lhendr at unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr
Received on Fri 06 Aug 1999 10:42:38 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:42:38 -0600
Thanks, James for scanning the picture from "No Kiss for Mother." Perhaps over the weekend more of you will have a chance to look at some of Ungerer's books. I'd also like us to consider the questions that Kathy Whitt raised about the marriage of pictures and story in Ungerer's work, and his strong sense of graphic design.
Such books as "Moon Man" and "The Three Robbers" strike me as especially strong and simple in their design. But do we make of Ungerer's insertion of all kinds of strange details that may or may not have something to do with the story? In the picture from "No Kiss for Mother," notice the cat in the background carrying a section of pipe with a faucet, and something dripping out of it. In "Flix," too, there are faucets everywhere, including such unlikely places as the pedestal upon which stands the statue of St. Bernard ( a dog, of course) in the church. There's another one attached to a pool table, and also one attached to a garbage can. What do these signify, if anything?
I don't want to limit the discussion to Ungerer's picture books. Some of you may have recently read "Tomi," and wish to comment upon that. Perhaps someone is familiar with some of Ungerer's other work -- his posters and graphics and illustrations for adults -and would like to relate that to his work for children. Perhaps in the next week some of you will have a chance to look at some of the Ungerer classics: the Mellops books, Crictor, Rufus, The Three Robbers, Zeralda's Ogre, The Beast of Monsieur Racine, The Hat, or Allumette (a retelling of
"The Little Matchgirl.)"
The Andersen Award committee praised Ungerer as "bold, colorful, innovative, irreverent, and unique" and said he had created an "`Ungerian' world of satirical fantasy and sheer enjoyment."
Judith Viorst, writing in the NY Times Book Review in 1973, was obviously delighted with "No Kiss for Mother." "You can tell right away, the minute you see him glaring from the jacket: A sweetheart he isn't. .... What kid could resist?" She finds the book "fierce and funny," and says it is a
"book that understands about boys and their parents .... a book that is also for mothers--and not just for kids." Zena Sutherland in the _Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books_, on the other hand, feels the book "has a flat and hostile tone, with no humor to relieve the acid depictions of the female characters and a climax that seems to indicate that he who gets slapped sees reason." Valerie Alderson (_Children's Book Review_) finds the book unattractive "partly because of the dreary monochrome illustrations, but more, I think because there is an elusisve nastiness behind the story."
I have tried e-mailing TomiCo and Roberts Rinehart, Ungerer's new U.S. publisher, but have not had a response as yet. In fact, e-mails to TomiCo have returned as undeliverable. Does anyone know the status of the company at the moment?
Keep your comments coming, please, as we have one more week before moving on to Katherine Paterson.
Linnea
Linnea Hendrickson Lhendr at unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr
Received on Fri 06 Aug 1999 10:42:38 AM CDT
