The Three Robbers

by Tomi Ungerer

In a delightfully dark and original tale by the author of No Kiss for Mother, three fierce robbers terrify a countryside, until they are subdued by the charm of a little orphan girl named Tiffany. Reprint.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Classics, France, Fantasy, Art

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer was a French illustrator best known for his erotic and political illustrations as well as children's books.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three robbers live in the forest. With their blunderbuss, their pepper spray and their huge axe, they hold up travellers and plunder them of their goods. They have accumulated a gigantic horde of gold in their cave.

One day, they stop a carriage but there's no gold inside, only a little orphan girl called Tiffany. They take her back to the cave, where she promptly begins to charm them with her cute ways.

Tiffany asks them what they're planning to do with the gold. They'd never thought of actually spending it! But they soon agree that it would make more sense to buy a castle. They get good terms, since they can pay cash. Tiffany loves living in the castle. After a while, other orphans hear about it and manage to get themselves kidnapped too. In the end, the robbers, now thoroughly reformed characters, are the patrons of a thriving little town of former orphans and very popular.

Moral: laissez-faire capitalism is more effective than socialism as a method of wealth redistribution, but only in fairy stories.

[manuti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que puse ya algo, pero no lo veo. La cuestión es que este libro no lo he leído yo, sino que me lo han leído a mí.
Es un libro clásico de iniciación a la lectura con unas ilustraciones que acompañan el texto de manera que refuerzan la historia y la comprensión lectora.
El libro se hace muy corto, tal vez lo único malo que tenga, y deja en parte un argumento abierto que puede aprovecharse para opinar de qué piensa el niño que ha ocurrido y que no se cuenta en el libro.

Para mi siempre será inolvidable, el primer libro que me leyó mi hijo.

[Margie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sons loved this book when they were little. We read it over and over! Here is a great blog post about it from Tomi Ungerer's site: https://www.tomiungerer.com/blog-what...

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three robbers wearing black hats and capes terrorize the countryside with their blunderbuss, pepper-blower and huge red axe in this classic and quirky tale from Tomi Ungerer. When they kidnap a young orphan named Tiffany, her simple question - what do they plan to do with their hoarded treasure? - precipitates them down a new path in life, as the proprietors of a castle built to house the region's orphans and unwanted children...

Originally published in Switzerland in 1963 as Die Drei Räuber, this classic of world children's literature was brought back into print in English by Phaidon in 2008. With an atmospheric tale that subverts the reader's expectations, depicting the robbers' transformation from frightening figures who threaten the populace to benevolent men who found an orphanage for needy children, whilst still remaining thieves, The Three Robbers displays its creator's sense of whimsy, as well as the social commentary for which he is famous. Are the eponymous Three Robbers meant to be Robin Hood figures, stealing from the rich in order to benefit the poor? Are they the fulfillment of the child's fantasy of tricking the adults, and living on their own in a castle? Or does the story encourage us to think that people who do bad things can be reformed, if given a new direction for their energies? Whatever the case may be, the story is still entertaining, just as the bold artwork is engrossing.

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Three Robbers" is a children’s book written by Tomi Ungerer and it relates the story of how three ferocious robbers became foster parents when they rescued an orphaned girl from going to her cruel aunt’s house. This book will surely be a delight for young children to read for many years to come.

Tomi Ungerer did an excellent job at writing the story of the three robbers in a comforting tone. Tomi Ungerer made the robbers reform their evil ways by putting a child in the picture when the robbers spot an orphaned girl in one of the carriages they were about to rob and therefore, they became foster fathers to all the orphaned children in town when they grew a heart to care for the orphaned girl, Tiffany. Also, Tomi Ungerer’s illustrations are highly creative as the robbers are mainly displayed as blue faced men dressed in black capes and tall black hats indicating that they are sneaky beings that you usually find in those cartoon spy shows like “Secret Squirrel.” Also, the backgrounds are colored in mainly blue, white and black and the children in the story are the only characters that are colorful since these images of the children indicate that they are the turning points in the three robbers’ life of crime.

Parents should know that while the robbers do reform themselves at the very end of the book, their appearances might scare small children and even more, their ways in robbing people might also scare small children. The robbers look a bit menacing as they sneak around towns scaring off people and then they rob unsuspecting people along the way. Also, the ways that they scare off the passengers are somewhat more intense then a regular robber just stealing your items and running away with them. These robbers use an axe to chop down the wheels, then they use pepper-blower to spray in the horses’ eyes temporary blinding them, and then they threaten the passengers with a blunderbuss to get their jewels, which may frighten small children. Also, the idea of someone sneaking into your home at night might be implanted into a small child’s head and he or she might worry about a robber coming to take them away. But, parents should assure their children that they will always be there to protect them and that the robbers in the book did not hurt any children as they took them in as their own children and that should send a sigh of relief from the child.

“The Three Robbers” is a magnificent masterpiece from the creative mind of Tomi Ungerer and its story of three fierce robbers reforming themselves into foster parents is truly a delight to hear. This story is surely to be a great classic for children for many years to come and is suitable for children ages five and up due to some menacing content about the robbers robbing the people.



Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me want to be a better artist. And wear a peaked black hat.

[Hakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little story that offers one of the most subtle critiques of capitalism that I’ve ever come across.

[celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

leído con adèle en la expo de tomi underer en el museo de la ilustración de estrasburgo 💌

un cuentito súper tierno sobre la belleza de escoger la bondad

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tomi Ungerer is a weirdo, if you've seen the documentary about him, you know I speak the truth. If you read his books you can understand the genius behind it. Robbers turn into heroes all because a child showed them they could be something else.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They terrified everyone. Women fainted. Brave men ran. Dogs fled."

Tomi! You wild man!
He can take the scariest, most horrifying thing and then turn it into something sweet and heart warming.

I don’t have to understand it (it being Tomi’s brain) but I love it!

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always owned a copy of this book since I was little and, frustratingly, found that several pages were missing (it ended on the part where one of the robbers takes Tiffany). For decades the message of the story eluded me until I came to it a lot later and realised something was missing. It is only now after buying Tomi Ungerer: A Treasury of 8 Books (which is one of the most beautiful things I own) that I get to enjoy the story properly.

The first thing I adore is Ungerer's use of a simple, yet deeply affecting colour pallette. This had a huge impact on me as a child along with the oddly conical hats and simplistic faces caved within those black, hunched shoulders. There is something so powerful in the minimalism of the three robbers. The story itself might seem a little unbelievable with little Tiffany teaches the Robbers the error of their ways but Ungerer's illustrations and mysterious robbers more than make for it for me.

[Fjóla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful quirky picture book. Read to me by my son, it's only a few lines per page, but contains a handful of longer words. I myself didn't even know what a blunderbuss was. I would have liked this book as a child, and indeed it reminds me of all the stories of highway robbers I used to read. Not even sure where they all came from. Tomi Ungerer's pictures are quirky like the story. I really liked the very distinctive style, the graphic shapes and the use of black. Discovered this book through 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up.

[Adsaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trop mims

[Alma · Rating 4 out of 5]

En el club de lectura leemos siempre un libro infantil. Además de tener unas ilustraciones preciosas, está historia es muy bonita. Parece ser que fue controvertida en su momento, pues los tres bandidos secuestraban niños, pero tiene un final muy bonito que merece la pena leer y creo que es una historia que hay que contar.

[Dana-Adriana B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ciudata poveste, greu de explicat copiilor, adi a cei trei talhareau trecatori, furau aur, bani...si ii tineau pt ce? Care era ideea daca nu doar placerea in ceea ce faceau. Apoi micuta orfana le schimba naravul intr-o zi, interesant.

[Door]

Je m'ennuie au travail donc je lis les livres qu'on vend et qui demande pas de concentration

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: I love Tomi Ungerer as an illustrator; I love this book in particular and this qualifies as my "U" author for the A-Z challenge.


The publisher's summary certainly tells the story in probably as many words as are used in the book! This is a simple tale and one with a rather ambiguous ending. Not sure if I'm entirely comfortable with it. The robbers who are indeed "fierce", with a gun, spend their lives as criminals. A little girl captures their heart and they turn good, But is using all their stolen wealth to build a grand castle ethical just because they then house it full of orphans and are now nice instead of bad? I somehow do enjoy the story, though. What makes this a favourite for me and a keeper on my shelves is its illustrations. The robbers are brilliant creepy little men in black capes and tall hats with only their eyes visible. We never see any more of them than that. The backgrounds are blue and black, keeping the story dark and probably intense for little children. When the little girl is introduced she is surrounded with yellow. A light in the darkness. The orphans are dressed like the robbers only in red capes and hats adding joy and happiness and we see them outdoors against green background. Ungerer's drawings are a delight to behold and his use of colour in this book is dramatic. A fun older book which is nice to see back in print.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never heard of this picture book nor the author until I came across New York Times post on Instagram showcasing that Tomi Ungerer has passed away. I was fortunate to see that my local library had come copies and I decided to take a crack at his books.

It’s interesting to see that Tomi Ungerer tackles ideas and themes that may seem dark and yet touches on our morality. The protagonist are three robbers who decide in their “evil” ways to rob and steal money from people. It isn’t until they meet an orphan girl named Tiffany who reforms them and uses their money to help make the world a better place.

The normal response would be the robbers need to be arrested and go to jail but that type of binary is not realistic and doesn’t take account of the whole picture. Is it bad to rob people? Yes of course but this book teaches it’s never too late to change your ways and make a difference.

The fact that took in countless orphans and prospect the village and made everyone happy will leave a mark for generations to appreciate this act of kindness and honor. Overall I loved the illustrations and the uses of dark colors which I look forward to discovering more of his works!

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Robin Hood story of sorts, in which a little orphan girl turns the hearts of three robbers. It's the kind of story that on one had has an honorable ending - the three robbers use their ill gotten gains to adopt more and more orphans - but Aesop is rolling over in his grave somewhere in the mountains of Greece. What's the moral here? Robbing from the rich - or this case everyone -to give to the poor is a good thing? But it's a morally ambiguous story with kick-ass illustrations. They are heavy and colorful, with lots of black and blue in the background, and bright splashes of color here and there - a huge red axe, a big full yellow moon, the blonde Tiffany. It's almost but not quite a cartoon; given a bit of a makeover, Rocky and Bullwinkle could easily walk into this book. The text is sparse but not in a poetic way; more blunt and colorful - a perfect match for the illustrations. Little villains and villainesses to be might enjoy this book; I know I did.

[Mladoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un style graphique reconnaissable entre mille. Qui ne connaît pas cette célèbre couverture ?

Trois brigands, volant sans but (parce que ce sont des brigands et c'est ce que les brigands font d'ordinaire), rencontrent une petite orpheline futée et téméraire. de là naît un grand projet.

Un album très beau graphiquement et joyeux malgré ce qu'annonce la couverture très sombre. Une histoire sur les faux-semblants et la générosité dont est capable l'humanité si elle est bien conseillée. Ungerer redonne le sourire. Un parfum de souvenir d'enfance et de joie estudiantine dans cet album.

[Myriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pour petit et grand!

Un livre très bien fait (jolies illustrations, textes concis, rythme prenant) qui enseigne aux enfants que l'on a souvent de bonnes raisons de ne pas être ce que l'on parait. Les trois brigands le sont plus par habitude que par conviction. Un élément va bouleverser leur façon de voir. Il suffit parfois d'un peu d'amour où l'on n'y croyait plus, pour que tout renaisse. Une véritable leçon de vie que ce livre.

[Stephen O'reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming, hilarious and sweet, this book is childish in the best possible way. Ungerers imagination blooms through the pages and is guaranteed to draw a smile across the faces of even the crankiest of readers. Phaidon upkeeps its record of a fantastic selection of children's books with this addition.

[Karem Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember exactly when I read this book, but I can say that is one of the first ones I've read. I even remember when I used to reread it all the time. I just loved it, and i still do. It bring me so many memories, besides that the story is just beautiful.

This book will be always in my heart.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was once on a challenged book committee because someone wanted it banned because it is violent and the robbers end up being the "good guys." Almost as good as the lady who wanted to remove a book because of the word "snot."

[Joel Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

À partida a premissa parece completamente desapropriada para uma história infantil, só que não é. Na verdade, tem o seu quê de divertido - é um divertido um pouco inquietante, mas paciência. É bom e isso é o que importa.

[Cosette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindof amazing. Was amazed by flow. It takes potential violence and skillfully weaves it into peaceful self content. My 12 year old enjoys reading it, my 3 year old enjoys hearing it. My 10 year old, not so much.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are the highlight here, but elementary children will eat up the odd and surprising story too!

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This story looks and feels so modern! I couldn't believe it is nearly 50 years old! The illustrations are simple, bold, and engaging. The story is whimsical and timeless.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a book in which the aunt is wicked and the robbers are kind-hearted.

[Christie Angleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so weird and wonderful.