October 23: This Day in Children’s Book History

🎂 Octo­ber 23, 1920 — Born: Gian­ni Rodari

Ital­ian writer and jour­nal­istGian­ni Rodari(Gian­ni Rodari) was born. He is rec­og­nized as The most impor­tant Ital­ian writer of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture in the 20th cen­tu­ry, with itsFan­ta­sy, humor, and irra­tional­i­tyis known for his empha­sis on chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture and is an inno­va­tor in Ital­ian chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Luo Dali opposed rigid edu­ca­tion and preach­ing, and advo­cat­edImag­i­na­tion, word­play, and absurd log­icTo stim­u­late chil­dren’s crit­i­cal think­ing.The Adven­tures of Pinoc­chio-Il Roman­zo di Cipolli­no)and“Fairy Tale on the Phone-Fav­ole al tele­fono) and is loved by read­ers all over the world.
• High­est Hon­or: He 1970 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers.

| born | Gian­ni Rodari | Gian­ni Rodari (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 October 23, 1961 — Born: Laurie Halse Anderson

Amer­i­can teen fic­tion writerLau­rie Halse Ander­son(Lau­rie Halse Ander­son) was born. She is rec­og­nized asA lead­ing fig­ure in con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­can juve­nile real­ism lit­er­a­ture, with itsCon­fronting Trau­ma, Iden­ti­ty, and Sex­u­al Vio­lenceKnown for his hon­est writ­ing on sen­si­tive top­ics such as.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments: Her work has been high­ly praised for its **tight nar­ra­tive and “dark yet radi­ant real­ism.”**
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and hon­ors: Her break­through nov­el,Speak Out” (or “I Will No Longer Be Silent”,Speak, pub­lished in 1999) tells the sto­ry of a sex­u­al­ly assault­ed girl who finds her voice in silence.
• High­est Hon­or: She 2023 Award­edAstrid Lind­gren Memo­r­i­al Award (ALMA), for her out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tion to “giv­ing voice to young peo­ple’s search­es for iden­ti­ty, mean­ing, and truth.”

| born | Lau­rie Halse Ander­son https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Halse_Anderson | Lau­rie Halse Ander­son (ALMA 2023 Lau­re­ate) |

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⚰️ October 23, 1964 — Death: Edward Eagle

Amer­i­can writ­ersEdward EagleEdward Eager (1911–1964) died. He is con­sid­eredReviv­ing Amer­i­can chil­dren’s fan­ta­sy lit­er­a­tureHer works are often com­pared with those of Edith Nes­bit, the mas­ter of British fan­ta­sy lit­er­a­ture.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Iger’s most famous work is the sev­en-part seriesMag­i­cal Sto­ries-Tales of Mag­ic) series, the firstHalf mag­ic-Half Mag­ic) was pub­lished in 1954. His sto­ries are usu­al­ly set in con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­ca and use mag­i­cal ele­ments to guide chil­dren onHumor­ous and imag­i­na­tiveadven­ture.
• Influ­ence: His work helped define the genre of “Mag­i­cal Real­ism” in mid-20th-cen­tu­ry Amer­i­ca and influ­enced many sub­se­quent chil­dren’s fan­ta­sy writ­ers.

| Death Edward Eager Edward Eager (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ October 23, 2011 — Death: Florence Parry Head

Amer­i­can writ­ersFlo­rence Par­ry HeadFlo­rence Par­ry Hei­de (1919–2011) died. She was a pro­lif­ic writer, espe­cial­ly good at writ­ingSatire, black humor, and anti­heroesChil­dren’s books on this theme.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Her most famous work isShrink­ing chil­dren-The Shrink­ing of Tree­horn, illus­tra­tor: Edward Gorey). This pic­ture book is known for itsAbsurd, dry sense of humor, depict­ing the plight of a boy neglect­ed by adults, became a major break­through in the pic­ture book field in the 1970s.Clas­sic cult works(Cult Clas­sic).
• Influ­ence: Her works chal­lenged the images of “per­fect chil­dren” and “ide­al par­ents” in tra­di­tion­al chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, and pro­vid­ed a new mod­el for future gen­er­a­tions.Satir­i­cal pic­ture booksOpened the way.

| Death Flo­rence Par­ry Hei­de Flo­rence Par­ry Hei­de (Simon & Schus­ter Pub­lish­ers) |

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⚰️ October 23, 1872 — Death: Théophile Gautier

French poet, nov­el­ist, and crit­icThéophile Gau­ti­erThéophile Gau­ti­er (1811–1872), an ear­ly pro­po­nent of French Roman­ti­cism and founder of the aes­thet­ic phi­los­o­phy of “art for art’s sake” (l’art pour l’art), died.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Gau­ti­er is known for hisForm, lan­guage and imag­i­na­tionIt is famous for its pur­suit of per­fec­tion and had a huge influ­ence on Euro­pean sym­bol­ism in the late 19th cen­tu­ry.
• Impact on chil­dren’s books: Although his works are pri­mar­i­ly poet­ry and fic­tion for adults,Fan­tas­tic imag­i­na­tion and the pur­suit of for­mal per­fec­tion, which pro­found­ly influ­enced the lat­er gen­er­a­tions’ cog­ni­tion of the sta­tus of “beau­ty” in chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture. His fan­ta­sy short sto­ries such as “Death of Love-La Morte amoureuse) also show­cas­es its charm in goth­ic and fan­ta­sy nar­ra­tives.

Le Cap­i­taine Fra­casse by Théophile Gau­ti­er, 1863 Cap­tain Flac­cusSet in the mid-17th cen­tu­ry, this is a clas­sic con­spir­a­cy nov­el in chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture. — Fea­tured in “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up”

| Death Théophile Gau­ti­er Théophile Gau­ti­er (Bri­tan­ni­ca) |

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🎂 October 23, 1928 — Born: Andrzej Strumillo

Pol­ish painter, illus­tra­tor and sculp­torAndrzej Stru­mil­loAndrzej Stru­miłło is born. He is con­sid­ered a key fig­ure in the Pol­ish post­war art scene.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Stru­mi­wo’s cre­ative work cov­ers a wide range, includ­ing book illus­tra­tion, book cov­er design and paint­ing. His artis­tic style is bothExpres­sion­ist and abstract ele­ments.
• Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: He 1971 for the illus­tra­tions of “The Bride­groom from the Sea: A Scan­di­na­vian Fairy Tale” (Narzec­zony z morza: baśnie skan­dy­nawskie)The Grand Prix, the high­est hon­or of the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Illus­tra­tion Bien­nale (BIB), which is the high­est recog­ni­tion of his achieve­ments as a book artist.

| born Andrzej Stru­miłło Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion Bratisla­va (Wikipedia) – See Grand Prix Win­ner List |

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⚰️ October 23, 1999 — Death: Maya Karma

Finnish illus­tra­tor and authorMaya Kar­maMai­ja Kar­ma (born Ann-Maj Kaa­ri­na Gustafson, 1914–1999), died in Fin­land. She was one of the most impor­tant Finnish children’s book illus­tra­tors of the 20th cen­tu­ry.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions: Kar­ma’s illus­tra­tion style is based onSoft, poet­ic and del­i­cate ani­mal imagesShe is well-known for her works and is loved by chil­dren in Fin­land and North­ern Europe. She has cre­at­ed illus­tra­tions for many chil­dren’s books by Finnish authors, and her works often focus onSmall ani­mals in natureAnd warm every­day scenes.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and achieve­ments: She Lea Pen­na­nen The bookLit­tle Hedge­hog-Pikku siili) won the Hon­or­able Men­tion Award, Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Illus­tra­tion Bien­nale (BIB), 1981(Hon­orary Men­tion). This hon­or con­firms her sta­tus in the inter­na­tion­al illus­tra­tion com­mu­ni­ty.

| Death | Mai­ja Kar­ma https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maija_Karma | 1914.12.11 – 1999.10.23 | Dig­i­tal BIBIANA (BIB 1981 Hon­orary Men­tion) |