This Day in Children’s Book History: September 22

Select­ed his­tor­i­cal events

• Sep­tem­ber 22, 1908 – Born: Russ­ian-Amer­i­can artist, chil­dren’s book author, and illus­tra­tor Esphyr Slo­bod­ki­na (1908–2002) was born in Chelyabin­sk, Rus­sia. Her clas­sic pic­ture book, “Caps for Sale,” fea­tur­ing a ped­dler sell­ing hats, is renowned for its abstract art style. It has been trans­lat­ed into numer­ous lan­guages and has become an Amer­i­can chil­dren’s clas­sic, pro­mot­ing artis­tic inno­va­tion in chil­dren’s books.

• Sep­tem­ber 22, 1924 — Born: British illus­tra­tor Charles Keep­ing (1924–1988) was born in Lon­don. He illus­trat­ed many chil­dren’s books, such as The Black Doll and Rail­way Pas­sage, and his gloomy and expres­sive style influ­enced the devel­op­ment of British chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture illus­tra­tion. He was known for his illus­trat­ed books Charley, Char­lotte and the Gold­en Canary and his illus­tra­tions of Alfred Noyes’ poems.The High­way­manHis illus­tra­tions won the Kate Green­away Medal twice, in 1967 and 1981.

• Sep­tem­ber 22, 1929 — Born: Amer­i­can children’s book author and illus­tra­tor Ann Gri­fal­coni (1929–2020) was born in New York. She cre­at­ed many pic­ture books focus­ing on the expe­ri­ences of African-Amer­i­can chil­dren, such as Vil­lage of Round and Square Hous­es, which won the Sil­ver Calde­cott Medal in 1987 and empha­sized cul­tur­al diver­si­ty and social themes.

Oth­er alter­na­tive events

• 1939: Swiss chil­dren’s book illus­tra­tor Ruth Hür­li­mann was born. She is best known for her pic­ture book “The Cat and Mouse Who Shared a House,” which won the 1976 Mil­dred L. Batchelder Award. Her work, which blends folk­lore with vibrant illus­tra­tions, enriched the inter­na­tion­al reach of Swiss chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture. She was award­ed the BIB Plaque Award twice, in 1971 and 1975.

• 2024: Mal­colm Don­ald­son, hus­band of British children’s author Julia Don­ald­son, dies. Although not direct­ly involved in the writ­ing of Donaldson’s books, he sup­port­ed her career as a pedi­a­tri­cian. His mas­ter­pieces, such as The Gruffa­lo, are beloved by chil­dren world­wide.The Don­ald­sons vis­it­ed Chi­na togeth­er in March 2007 and told sto­ries to chil­dren in libraries and book­stores in Bei­jing., Mal­colm played gui­tar and Julia sang the sto­ry of the Gruffa­lo. This pedi­a­tri­cian who also had great achieve­ments in the med­ical field and spe­cial­ized in endocrinol­o­gy,He is often called “Dr. Gruffa­lo” by his young patients.(Dr. Gruffa­lo).

Key Cita­tions:

• Ruth Cecile Hurli­mann – Wiki­da­ta
• Esphyr Slo­bod­ki­na – Wikipedia
• Charles Keep­ing – Wikipedia
• Ann Gri­fal­coni – Wikipedia
• Julia Don­ald­son – Wikipedia
• Chil­dren’s Book Pub­lish­ing in Europe: A His­tor­i­cal Approach
• Cat and Mouse Who Shared a House (The) – Out­side In World
• Lit­er­a­ture for Chil­dren and Young Adults: Batchelder Award