I Am Papa Snap and These Are My Favorite No Such Stories

by Tomi Ungerer

Papa Snap relates a series of zany, fantastical tales about such colorful characters as Zink Slugg, Mr. and Mrs. Kaboodle, Bunny Buson Brittle, and the four Tremblance brothers--Fester, Fister, Faster, and Foster.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1973

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

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of fifteen silly stories, all except for the first and last of which are presented on a two-page spread with a short narrative.

Each story has quite a bit of alliteration, which would make reading them aloud quite fun. And the colorful and cartoonish illustrations with anthropomorphic animals are sure to appeal to younger children.

The stories and illustrations have a quirky nostalgic look and make me think of England during WWII.

My favorite of the bunch (I believe my husband would appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gift):

"Mr. Maroon Morsel gave his wife Retina a steamroller
for their twentieth anniversary.
She uses it to iron out her laundry
and flatten pizza dough.
They drive it on weekends to visit Mr. Morsel's
bedridden mother who lives in the mountains." (p. 14 - unpaged)

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want your kids to develop a good sense of the absurd, go buy them this book of very short, and very bizarre, stories. The first story goes, in its entirety, "Bunny Bunson Brittle goes fishing. He has no permit. Who cares? There are no fish." The prose isn't quite done justice without the illustrations, but you get the idea. I've had to replace this book a bunch of times over the years since I first read it in about 1973 or so, because people keep stealing it from me. And I don't have kids. Really a must have.

[alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been wondering FOR YEARS if this book existed or if I dreamed it up. I went to the Tomi Ungerer exhibit at the Marseille Library (one of them, anyway) and found out IT DOES EXIST! The couch that eats people!

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure nonsense, in the Edward Lear tradition, from one of the great picture-book masters. Not among his immortal works, but that's not a bad thing - it's a succession of minor delights tinged, as per his style, with an edge of darkness, and a couple of the short pieces made me laugh out loud.

[Robert Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Tomi Ungerer and I love this book. Irreverent. Subversive. Fun. From the silly stories to the surprising illustrations. Every page is a delight. Most highest of high recommends.

[Nils Lid Hjort · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nydelig, herlig, sprø bok, med humor og detaljer, både i tegningene og i teksten, som både barn og de tilstrekkelig sjelebrede voksne vil elske.

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny absurdist short stories for people of age 4 upwards, accompanied by Ungerer's inimitable illustrations. My favorite was the man who buys his wife a steam-roller as a silver wedding anniversary present. (She uses it to do the ironing and make pizza; the picture is marvelous). I also liked the bad kid who goes to sea in a bathtub and sinks a battleship with his catapult, and the careless aviator, who bales out of his burning plane and then realizes he's left his parachute behind in the officers' mess. "I swear this is the last time I... SPLAT!!!"

I can't find many extracts on the Web - the book is nowhere near as famous as it deserves to be - but here's another one I liked:



Every day, rain, shine or overcast, he walks down to the shore. He sits on a rock to read or dream. He has no friends, no enemies. He lives in peace. No one knows anything about him. Not even his name.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day Papa Snap heard of a very hungry sofa, owned by a Mr. Mulch. "What a wonderful No Such Story that would make!" he thought. That same night Papa Snap paid a visit to Mr. Mulch, and was never seen again. Someday I will have a band called Papa Snap. . . I love how irreverent this book is. I just read about Tomi Ungerer recently, so I didn't know much about his books. He was good friends with Maurice Sendak and Shel Silverstein. The three authors have a very distinct sense of humor, enough on the dark side of things to make kids a little creeped out in a way that they don't really know why. It's creepiness in the illustrations and in the way that the adults in the stories do very bizarre things. But it's not creepy enough to have nightmares or anything, just images that get burned on your brain and make you remember the time and place where you first heard the story. Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss are a little like that, too.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this isn't really a collection of stories. Each story is very short - one or two pages - and not much happens. For example, there's one about a man who always runs to catch the train, but always misses it. The train runs five minutes faster than his clock at home. But that's all right, at least he never has to go to work.

And yet, it works. These are "stories" that wouldn't work in most situations, but they work here. Go figure.

[Jason Beyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I get the appeal of nonsense but this book just didn't do it for me.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silly dark poems/stories that are perfect for an older reader but not really for younger ones.

[Emma]

How have I never heard of this guy before? These stories are going to be a bit much for our 2yo I think, but I can't wait to get to them. They're nuts, absolute crackers.