Fog Island

By Tomi Ungerer

With the passing of this outstanding children’s picture book author, I wanted to feature one of his books, and urge parents if you have not discovered his picture books, filled with imaginative story telling with more than a touch of the wickedly wonderful, please do turn their pages soon with your young reader and discover a master of his art in full possession of his storytelling powers.

A friend once told me…”So long as a person’s name is uttered and spoken of, so long will they be remembered.” I know Tomi Ungerer’s name will live long and flourish in the pantheon of outstanding picture book authors as far as the critics are concerned. But, my heart tells me he never wrote for them. He wrote for the child in each of us and within himself.

Please help him to live again in your young readers’ lives by reading his books with and to them.

He lives inside the words and pages of his picture books.

How’s this for a rave review from one well known picture book icon….. to one less well known, but also just as remarkable?

“Tomi Ungerer has created another masterpiece.” So says Eric Carle of Tomi’s “Fog Island.”

The Hans Christian Andersen Award was given to Tomi Ungerer in 1998 for his “lasting contribution” to the art of children’s books.

And, in 2013, Tomi’s “Fog Island” was named to impressive critical lists such as “New York Times Best Illustrated Picture Books for 2013,” “Top Ten Children’s Books 2013” and “Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books of 2013.”

Tomi’s “Fog Island” is a small gem. And, in the words of critic Leonard Marcus, he critiques it quite succinctly:

“Here with a becoming respect

for children’s curiosity about the

forces that govern the world, and

their roles in that grand scheme,

Ungerer takes young readers to a

place they have not been before

and he does the same for picture

books.”

Shrouded in myth and mystery that young readers will find appealing, as they usually revel in the quirky and queer, Tomi has set the scene on the coast of Ireland. He, himself, took up residence there, and from his own impressions of the stark allure of its rocky coast, the seeds of “Fog Island” were planted. What follows is the tale of the man that generates the mist. Is he good or evil? Gossip says the latter, but the two siblings’ experience may prove the former to be true!

This young boy and girl’s first hand encounter may tell the tale.

Tomi’s ability to conjure atmosphere with art is truly a gift. His use of varying shades of blue, gray and black here, lend a misty miasma of foreboding that only the encounter and experience with The Fog Man can dispel. Or can it? For even then, so much is left to the imagination of the reader; as it should be!

Please take a trip to “Fog Island” with your young reader. And while there, please also consider taking a peek at some of Tomi’s other books such as “Zeralda’s Ogre”, “The Beast of Monsieur Racine,” plus the more well-known and lovable boa named “Crictor” that can spell out letters with each cool constriction of his body.

I recently gave away some of my favorite Ungerer titles to a very young reader who came to our farm stand. His dad, who is French, visited the Museum in France, dedicated to this picture book icon.

There are so many others that are worth a read from this curious, canny and very cunning artist/author of the picture book.

The road to a child’s inner heart is sometimes hard to fathom or even find, but I think Tomi, as evidenced in his picture books, never forgot the way.