Nonstop by Tomi Ungerer

Look, before we continue, you have to watch "Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story." I'm serious - pause reading, find it, watch it and then please return… pretty please.

Tomi Ungerer's picture books transport readers to unsettling yet profound worlds. While they reflect uncomfortable realities, these stories deserve our attention. In a world where children's books can sugarcoat reality, Tomi Ungerer's final masterpiece "Nonstop" stands as a challenge to conventional storytelling. Published posthumously in 2020, this dire picture book carries a message that challenges our thoughts about picture books and stories: "Don't Hope, Cope." Yet through its blunt imagery and steadfast narrative, it delivers something perhaps more valuable than hope – a blueprint for survival.

As someone who has long been inspired by Ungerer's fearless approach to picture books, I found myself captivated by this last work (especially now), which distills his philosophy into one powerful statement about resilience in the face of devastation, how we treat others in horrific situations, and that sometimes just surviving itself becomes our greatest source for hope.

A Journey Through Disorder.

The cover caught my eye immediately and refused to let go with its smooth compositional flow. I remember when I came across this book on the shelf;it trapped me in a ‘non stop’ bounce between the title and the main subject of the man. My eye is immediately drawn to the bright red blocks with the title and then to the man, which leads me back to the red blocks, and this continues for awhile until the eye is pushed up in the blank space to the ‘Tomi Ungerer’ area, which loops back down and around the left through the tumbling blocks to the green space, which is then pushed back to the main space again. The title is interesting in retrospect to reading the story; I’m not sure how I feel about it before opening the book as I had not given it much thought. The muddied jewel green and tones of the red and blue are great hints at what the book holds inside in a dirty off colored world, same with the blocky structures and sharp lines, again suggesting the broken world ahead. Thinking back on the title, it feels almost like a cautionary tale, that this life that is beginning is nonstop, good or bad, and for the adults, the title is a validation of feelings.

I always appreciate when there is story setup with the pages ‘before’ the start of the first ‘official’ story spread. The end pages introduce us to what looks like the setup for an unusual joke; man, shadow, and what appears to be a green blob - floating in a void of pastel pink and black.

Tomi is even utilizing the dedication page to allude to the story, talking about his brother and the shadow, a lovely touch. Again, all on this pastel pink, colors are interesting because they can have such ranging meanings depending on cultures and personal preference. The heavy use of this pink seems like a toned down red. I would love the ability to chat with Tomi on this page as I wonder if he played around with using a stronger red, like that found on the cover, but it was too heavy and stark of a backdrop. When looking back at the cover, we see this same pink as a tone used next to the red, as that of a red in the brightness of the sun. I think all of this eerie pink color is already giving the viewer an idea of this story being about a more alarming world.

Our first ‘official’ story spread directly sets the scene and stakes of this story. The Earth is desolate, devastated and empty. Everyone has gone to the Moon, with no illustrations, leaving the viewer to visualize this horrific strange world. Tomi’sword selections are interesting, utilizing earth characteristics and ‘innocent’ things to play up the stakes. The birds and butterflies are gone, even the rats too! Grass and leaves have withered, which isn’t uncommon but with the structure of this paragraph we are led to believe they are not returning. Flowers are memories, a poetic way to continue this introduction leading into empty streets and buildings. This world is completely gone and empty. The spread has no illustration but the use of the drop cap ‘B’ and typography choice creates a great hierarchy and composition. The typography is a soft humanist serif style, the drop cap B anchoring it to the page as the whole of the text is centered. Itcannot be missed, you cannot avoid this empty world.

On the next spread, we get our first page illustration. I have always found myself looking at pictures and compositions in any story I read for the first time. With this drawing, Tomi is dropping us into a setting finally. No more empty color spaces but we see our first building, a very barren and detail-less building, showing off a shadow very clearly directing the viewer. The text on the page enhances this illustration, with two words that stand out to me, ‘solitude’ and ‘SCRAM’. Tomi’s stories, in my experience, seem to always have very unique word choices; he even mentions this in the documentary about his life. He loved to select words that challenged the child and also loved words that were unique and gave a very specific tone to the story and sentence.

A huge uptick in the stakes of this story, an explosion, meets us. This world is not just empty, but hostile. The illustration gives us a stark image, with the bright explosion on the left and a running, narrowly escaping a tragic fate Vasco, with shadow continuing to point away. We are now fully aware that the shadow is one of the few things that may help the main character, and it was already setup in a few ways with the end pages and dedication all hinting at this shadow.

The way Tomi sets up the shadow is interesting because it is easy to think of the shadow as our inner voice or gut feelings directing us. However, with digestion of things before this point, it was clearly an actual person for Tomi, his brother. This got me thinking about my own past and the people I have met in life and how they continue to lead me. These shadows of memories and timely kinship. It is a brilliant way to let the reader at any stage sort of put in their own meaning to this guide character.

This spread is interesting because we are told ‘JUST IN TIME!’ before we see for what reason. This contrast with the aloofness of the character that is humming and rambling about, almost numb to this world that is full of danger. The shadow saves the character, who is not even aware of the danger. The illustration once again uses color in a strong way as we get a fully grey world and one pink building, serving as a warning for the viewer to stay alert.

Just as we thought, the pink building falls like empty crates. Again a lovely string of words to describe something. It is also interesting to show a school bus in the illustration with no mention of it in the text. The bus works in two ways. We see it obviously as something that is going to be smashed by the building, hurting those inside, but also as an obstacle for the main character as they seem to be heading for each other. A strong build up of chaos.

After the chaos of the previous spread, we are greeted with a slow moment again. This is a consistent back and forth of the previous spreads where we are given a second to catch our breath and then a spread to exhale and narrowly escape. This spread serves as an interesting dual purpose as Tomi gets his own message across directly with the subtle graffiti on the wall, Tomi’s version of “Live, Laugh, Love” but more in line with “Live, Cope, Don’t Die.” From the illustration, we see the main character cannot necessarily see the graffiti from that direction, so we are left with a mystery for the next page, what else is this wall hiding.

The shadow has led the character to someone in need, which gives the story a sudden shift in going from narrow escapes and just existing to now we have a goal: find this creature’s wife. What I find most interesting about this spread is the dialogue on finding the wife and the oddness to give a letter with no address for one, and then to say “It will find its way” with a murmur. It fits with this world in that the shadow is leading through instinct so we know our main character will find the wife. Again the illustrations use elements unspoken to build the world, with the cars chopped and fallen, further enhancing the danger of the world; nothing is wasted in the story of this spread. This dynamic is growing as our main character was only having to keep himself alive with the shadow with no real goals in mind but to simply traverse this landscape.

It would have been so easy to show a huge wave and destruction for this spread. But instead, Tomi has shown us simply, rising water engulfing the buildings and cars. Then, with the text, we enhance that fear by stating that Vasco could not swim nor float, but only saved because of a ladder, again, just in time.

A lovely transition of events as the water has risen as this ladder led Vasco to a ship. The starkness of the dark and blues of the illustration give us such a stormy unpleasant feeling as the illustration leads us left to right, leaving us with a broken ship as we see exposed wood structure. Again, words to highlight are ‘adrift’ and ‘shredding reefs’. Also, what a way to end a spread with our character in such a dire event that they are jumping into dangerous water in nothing but a barrel.

Again, a spread where we can take a breath, in darkness, but even with this pause, we are greeted with an eerie text of a ‘deserted hospital.’ Also, to note that the shadow isn’t doing anything visually at this time.

This spread does something that is quite interesting in shifting the tone a bit along with raising the stakes. Before, it felt that the characters were ‘simply’ coping and only trying to survive. Now, the main character along with the shadow are transitioning into heroes. The main character’s goal is growing as now they have something to care for. This is interesting because we are not told what this means necessarily and what the ‘end’ looks like in this. For the first time, the ‘Just in time’ is in reference to something beyond physical destruction. This time, something emotional is on the line.

Again, we are given no real destination in mind, only to continue forward. But to where? That lack of end destination would possibly be frustrating as a reader, but with this story so far it fits for me as it alludes to not necessarily hoping for anything but simply continuing forward and surviving, or to simply cope which is all in line with what has been setup in the story to this point. For this spread, we are greeted with an icy landscape of jagged edges and cold ocean darkness, a dangerous spread indeed.

Now the heat has turned up, with more great word choices of ‘scorched’ and ‘sizzling’ giving a poetic energy to the spread. The illustration does an incredible job of being minimalist on the surface, but when viewed with a second glance,we see that one of the trees has a branch, which contrasts with the text of ‘branchless trees’. So we then continue to look at the trees, and when we read the image from left to right, we start to see some odd-looking trees with a subtle color shift and rivets and lines like that of pipes, giving further story to the world and mystery.

First off, we see an incredible composition in this illustration. Our main character, clutching Paco and surrounded by danger, has only a small sliver of a space to escape from tumbling tree pipes, the shadow already leading the way. The use of din in place of sound shows the love of word that Tomi had; this use gives the text a richness.

We have escaped the commotion of the pipes and now we have a pause, but now even in our pauses there is evident danger. A green smog or gas is approaching from the edges of the illustration as we leave this spread with the words ‘disintegration seemed imminent’.

We aren’t dodging a falling, rising or exploding force in this simpler spread. Instead, we are fighting a mental block as we keep doubt and fear at bay, while swerving from gargling magma. A few things I love about this particular spread are the solo green gas cloud to break up the visual composition, the word choice of gargling, and the space to give our readers a moment to challenge our doubt and fears of this journey as we have been consistently bombarded with challenge after challenge with no definite end planned.

The specific element I love most about this illustration is the turned shadow. It tickles me, as the shadow has consistently been doing something quite different than Vasco, but this seems a step above by truly breaking the rules of its nature/surrounding. The simplicity of the illustration gives us time to continue to think about the previous spread as we find our exit and lead into the next spread.

From the start, the adventure has been quite surreal, but now we’re watching buildings melt like ice cream left out on a hot summer day. Salvador Dalí would be proud - or possibly sue for copyright infringement. This melting landscape leads the viewer to a shadow that is now controlling the physical space as it stops a taxi for safety. The text on this spread is quite a bit to take in with words like ‘globs’, ‘lilac gelatin’ and ‘mottled’. At this point I think the words would be a challenge for some readers, specifically younger, but the illustration does a great job of filling in context clues for the readers so I feel the words offer a great challenge while also allowing the curious to find their meaning if beginning unknown.

We are out of the depths, momentarily. As we return to the chaotic surface world, now with tiger tanks that devour the plastic trees. This spread feels to have quite a bit of social commentary from Tomi, that is general enough to continue the story if you don’t pick up on it. The illustration uses a nice clash of the green on one side vs the red of the tiger tank tips, as red and green are opposite on the color wheel. The illustration is also simply brighter on one side vs the darkness of the opposite, as our character dives back down into the depths.

One of my favorite illustrations of the book is its balance of simplicity with detail in the ‘right’ spots. The integration of the black void background into the smoke of the train is a great touch to incorporate the minimal with the rest of the ground and increase the influence of the background space. The color palette is nicely utilized with the purple train standing out against the alarming pink, the yellow glow of the interior giving us a hint of warmth. The text gives us a story that isn’t shown in the pleasant moments of lullabies until both fell asleep as we are nearing the end of our journey, where will it lead us?

We return to the surface world, now in a middle of nowhere in a desert. The train is returning to where it came, maybe a hope to save others that survive. Then, Tomi proceeds to use a word that could only be described as an enemy to all parents everywhere as they are forced to tongue twist and imagine what ‘phantasmagorical’ is. What a word to use! I wonder if it was used solely for its sound and ‘awe’. The word and world leaves me in ‘awe’, alluding to the sights of the desert. It is a word I would never use, but solely because it is one I had not heard and would probably never think to write. I think it gives a whimsy to this story that is so filled with hard times and conflict, as we near our end.

An almost abrupt ending that also makes sense with the flow we have been experiencing with this book of rising action and a moment to pause. Now we are structurally coming down and ending in this fantasy castle in the desert, which gives a fantasy-like imagery to this story. We also learn the shadow has dissolved in this space as its mission has concluded, a much-deserved rest after saving our character nonstop. This gives some depth to the journey of the shadow, our shadow. It leaves us to ponder and a bit melancholic as we lost the shadow, a friend of our journey is gone.

I love that we end this story in a similar fashion to how we started, with blank voids of color and a dump of information as we learn events that are left to our imagination. We further mourn the loss of a friend in shadow and we are shown the continued growth of the characters beyond finding safety… a nonstop journey.

Hopeful Closure.

What makes this story remarkable is its ability to resonate with readers of all ages. While primarily a children's tale, it offers layers of meaning that reveal themselves through careful analysis. The straightforward narrative of hope amid a broken world is enhanced by thoughtful imagery and word choices that invite deeper interpretation. This reminds me of my experiences as both a teaching assistant and childcare provider, particularly with 9-10 year olds. Society often underestimates children's intelligence, but in my experience, my students regularly surprised me with their insight and understanding, often challenging my own knowledge. Tomi's story reflects this by offering meaningful commentary on our world that readers can grasp at any age, whether as children or adults revisiting the book years later. This universal accessibility inspires my own storytelling.

Tomi proves that picture books can handle heavy topics for any audience without losing their soul, creating stories that feel like a warm hug from your favorite existentialist philosopher. While "Three Robbers," "Moonman," and "Teddy" are among his other classics, any of Tomi's works offer a compelling mixture of tragedy and adventure.