The Three Robbers

"Re the blunderbuss in The Three Robbers, they told me – no, it’s a gun", says Tomi Ungerer. "At the time, I really had to fight hard to give the kids some vocabulary. Because the more vocabulary you have, the more imagination you have."
The Three Robbers, Tomi Ungerer's most famous book, published in 1961, is inspired by Die kühne Müllerstochter (The Miller's Bold Daughter), written by Wilhelm Busch in 1868. in Tomi’s world, robbers do not die but, as the story progresses, they become defenders of orphans. They are unusual anti-heroes for children's literature as they are faceless, have no identity other than that of robbers. Tiffany, the name of the story's other heroine, was directly inspired by the name of the New York luxury store and is Tomi's way of poking fun at consumer society. Acting as a contrast to the robbers dressed in their long black coats, the little blonde girl is a creature of the sunlight. Her favourite object is a cuddly toy, a symbol of childhood, but she is confronted by a blunderbuss, a huge axe and a pepper blower.
When Tiffany questions the robbers about what they are doing with the stolen money, she gets no answer. They have lost their innocence. Two worlds are confronting each other.
In Tomi Ungerer's children's albums, it is the children who act to transform adults, in a reversal process that gives them real power. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why this timeless album appeals to generations of readers. Not to mention the drawing! Large black swathes of Indian ink or colour, Japanese style, make the image easier to understand. The silhouettes stand out against blue backgrounds painstakingly drawn with felt-tip pens, the colours contrasting sharply.