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Summary
Summary
A powerful and beautiful book told first-hand by Otto, a German-born teddy bear who is separated from his Jewish owner, lives through World War II, and is reunited with his original owner 50 years later.
Author Notes
Tomi Ungerer was born Jean-Thomas Ungerer in Strasbourg, France on November 28, 1931. He wrote and illustrated children's books as well as books for adults. His first children's book, The Mellops Go Flying, was published in 1957. His other children's books included Crictor, No Kiss for Mother, and Moon Man. His books for adults included The Underground Sketchbook of Tomi Ungerer, Fornicon, Tomi: A Childhood Under the Nazis, and Far Out Isn't Far Enough. He also created illustrations for advertisements including a series of posters for The Times in the 1960s. During the Vietnam War, he created posters with an antiwar theme. He died on February 8, 2019 at the age of 87.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-A teddy bear recounts his creation in Germany before World War II, his arrival as a birthday present for a young Jewish boy, and his time with David and David's friend, Oskar. When authorities force David to wear a yellow star and transport him and others away, Otto stays behind with Oskar. An African-American G.I. finds the bear after a bomb blast, a bullet hits them both, and because the bear absorbs the brunt of the blast, he saves the soldier's life. Otto becomes the playmate of the soldier's daughter until he is mauled by street boys, lands in a garbage pail, and eventually in an antique shop. From there the story takes an even more surprising and satisfying twist as Otto is reunited with his childhood friends. Ungerer's large watercolors become dark and shadow-filled as the Jews are taken away, people hide in bomb shelters, and bombs explode in the city. In a particularly realistic spread, one soldier lies slumped over a tank in the distance while, in the foreground, readers see a prostrate soldier clutching his bleeding chest, another one trapped under rubble, and a bodiless outstretched arm. While the book touches on some difficult subjects, the story is told from the point of view of the bear, which makes discussion a bit easier for younger children. Otto appears scarred and battle-worn on the cover but is a survivor nonetheless, and his telling is matter-of-fact and unsentimental. A poignant and uplifting story.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Teddy bear narrator Otto belongs to David, a Jewish boy living in Germany; their world of games and pranks with David's friend Oskar turns dark when David and his parents are taken away (at which point he gives Otto to Oskar), and Oskar's father leaves for the front. In the chaos of bombing raids, Otto is found by a G.I., who is shot seconds later ("Look at him!" Charlie the G.I. later tells hospital nurses. "Believe it or not this teddy bear saved my life"). Years later in the U.S., Oskar rediscovers Otto in an antique store and, after their picture appears in the newspaper, David finds them, too. "Since our happy reunion I have kept myself busy pounding out this story on my typewriter," says Otto, shown in front of a typewriter, burning buildings floating in his memory behind him. Ungerer's illustrations-expressive, carefully worked paintings quite different from his previous books-present some potentially scary images; parents and teachers should prepare for questions. But Otto's tranquil voice allows Ungerer to tell his story at a safe remove, and his unvarnished honesty makes this a vital account. Ages 8-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Could it happen? Hardly; but the course of Otto the teddy bear's life -- from plaything of a Jewish boy and his non-Jewish best friend in 1930s Germany, to the mascot of a wounded black GI, to the eventual reunion with elderly friends David and Oskar in the United States -- could serve as an introduction to the Holocaust for not-too-young children, with a few caveats. One problem is the clumsy illustration of the domestic scenes: young David and Oskar, playing with Otto, are way beyond teddy-bear age; David, wearing a yellow star, and Oskar, coveting one unawares, are soldierly-stiff; the family of black GI Charlie could almost be living on Catfish Row, with laundry strung across the kitchen. On the other hand, the scenes of David and his family being deported, of Oskar's soldier-father departing for the front, and of wartime carnage do bring the war home. And it's hard not to respond to the two lonely old gents, both of whom lost their parents in the war, being reunited by a teddy bear in an American antiques-shop window. barbara bader (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The first broad release of a title originally published regionally and overseas in 1999, this simply told, deeply affecting tale follows a teddy's passage from hand to hand through war and other troubles. First given to David, a German child who passes it to his close friend Oskar when he and his Jewish family are taken away, the bear is picked from a pile of bomb rubble by an African-American GI. In the States it becomes a girl's prized companion until snatched by neighborhood ruffians and cast into the trash. Rescued, it then spends many years in the window of an antiques store until a passerbynone other than a now-elderly Oskarrecognizes a distinctive ink stain on its head and rushes in to buy it. This sparks a newspaper story, which leads to a stunning phone call and the joyful reunion of bear, Oskar and David. Subtle changes of facial expression in Ungerer's watercolor art give the bearstained, battered and with a clumsily repaired bullet holeplenty of character, and there's nary a trace of sentimentality in the matter-of-fact narrative. (Picture book. 6-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* With the effortless touch of a true master, Ungerer takes the coziest symbol of childhood the teddy bear and transforms it into a battered but proud emblem of the perseverance of innocents. Receiving its first English publication (it was published in French in 1999), the book begins with Otto looking ragged on a shelf: I knew I was old when I found myself on display in the window of an antique store. Then it's back to 1930s Germany and the agony of birth: a workshop sewer attaching Otto's button eyes. Soon Otto is gifted to David, and the two spend many a happy day pulling pranks with David's pal, Oskar. But that yellow star David wears with pride, you can tell by the line of his back foreshadows decades of turmoil: Otto passed off to Oskar when David is trucked away; Otto used by a solider to stem a bloody wound; Otto's subsequent fame, abduction, and garbage-can salvation. It's potent material. And the battlefield spread is scary dead soldiers, an arm poking from the rubble. Ungerer plays it straight with his watercolors, rarely accentuating, but never pulling back, either. Even the ending, in which Otto's original owner finds him, is subdued, with Otto finally taking his place at a typewriter, writing this story, and stating, with characteristic nonchalance, Here it is. --Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist