Drawing for The Three Robbers, page 5, first published as Die drei Räuber by Georg Lentz Verlag, Munich). Children’s Literature Research Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia. The Three Robbers tells the story of three fierce black-clad robbers who terrorize and plunder the countryside, armed with a blunderbuss, a pepper blower, and a huge red axe… The Three Robbers has been translated into 16 languages and has sold millions of copies in the 45 years since it was first published. The book was written and illustrated by the award winning childrens author Tomi Ungerer. Now re-published by Phaidon this childrens classic is once more available in English. (http://www.tomiungerer.com/work/books/the-three-robbers/) Q. You mentioned your dislike of captions, but you’ve always been a storyteller. How and why do you use language in your children’s books? A. Well, this was a big fight in the old days. Still, to this day, the Americans say that you should use a vocabulary that the children already have and understand. And I say, No. Children should be given a challenge with new words. My wife and I read our children stories every night—but way ahead of their age. Why not read The Little House on the Prairie to a four-year-old child? I never had this problem with Ursula Nordstrom at Harper. She was the only one who didn’t give a shit about this. But when The Three Robbers came out, they wanted me to take out the word blunderbuss for the gun. But blunderbuss—isn’t that a beautiful word? My god! Blunderbuss! (https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/30/all-in-one-an-interview-with-tomi-ungerer/)