Tomi Ungerer was born is Strasbourg in 1931, moved to the US in 1956 and now lives in Ireland. His first children's book "The Mellops go Flying" was published by Harper in 1957. This was to be the first in a series of very successful and unusual children's titles.For a full biography see his official site - TomiUngerer.comTomi is a prolific artist, author and illustrator and has been awarded a wide range of prizes, accolades and honours in recognition of his work including: - Legion d'Honneur France (1990) - Order of the Deutsches Bundesverdienstdreuz Germany (1993) - National Prize for Graphic Arts France (1995) - Hans Christian Andersen Prize for children's literature (1998) - European Prize for Culture (1999) - Officer of the Legion d'Honneur France (2000) - Named Goodwill Ambassador for Childhood and Education of European Council (2003) - Erich Käistner Literary Prize (2004) - Awarded an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Karlsruhe (2004)