Tomi Ungerer...

I fell a little bit in love this morning. While looking through the little ladies' library books, I came across a slim paperpack titled 'Emile' about a heroic octopus with nostalgic tendancies. The story was sweet, funny, and beautifully illustrated, the kind of story that's hard to find these days for my 8 and 6 year-old.

I found it hard to believe that this was just an ordinary children's book, so I read the author bio at the end, and lo and behold, this was not written by just any old children's author, this was written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer, an award-winning author, illustrator and designer. So I opened the vast encyclopedia called Google to find out more.

As well as writing and/or illustrating more than 30 children's books, including The Mellops Go Flying, Flat Stanley, and Moon Man, he also produced illlustrations for The New York Times, Esquire, and Harper's Bazaar.

Ungerer also produced anti-Vietnam posters, wrote adult fiction with a heavy emphasis on eroticism, and designed various things, from film posters and political cartoons to an aqueduct in Strasbourg. Hellooo, over-achiever!

Born in Alsace, he lived through the German occupation of the region, and later moved to the States, then Cananda, and now resides in Ireland. Although I haven't yet checked out any of his erotic fiction or political illustrations, I think Tomi Ungerer sounds like an interesting man indeed.

If you haven't had a chance to read any of his children's books (although he is French, most of the books are written in English), I would definitely recommend them, as much for the sweet stories as for the illustrations. Ungerer has been described as 'the most famous children's book author you've never heard of', which I guess was true for me until today. It seems like alot of his children's books are no longer in print, so it may mean a trip to the library, but I promise it will be a worthwhile trip!