December 29: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 Born: December 29, 1943 Molly Bian

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and authorMol­ly Bian(Mol­ly Bang) was born. She was…Emo­tion­al expres­sionKnown for his pre­cise cap­ture and psy­cho­log­i­cal appli­ca­tion of col­or and com­po­si­tion, he is one of the most respect­ed pic­ture book cre­ators today.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Three-time Calde­cott Hon­or:
• 1981: 《The Gray-Robed Granny and the Straw­ber­ry Thief-The Gray Lady and the Straw­ber­ry Snatch­er): A word­less book full of mys­tery and visu­al ten­sion.
• 1984: 《10, 9, 8-Ten, Nine, Eight): A heart­warm­ing bed­time count­down book that depicts the bond between an African Amer­i­can father and daugh­ter.
• 2000: 《Feifei is angry—very, very angry.-When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Real­ly Angry…This is the most famous in the world.Emo­tion­al Man­age­ment Pic­ture BookOne of the ways it vivid­ly illus­trates the process of anger from its out­burst to its sub­sid­ing through changes in col­or.

| born Mol­ly Bang | Mol­ly Bang (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born: December 29, 1963 Dave McKean

British illus­tra­tor, car­toon­ist, and direc­torDave McK­ean(Dave McK­ean) was born. He was…Mixed media, col­lage, pho­tog­ra­phy and dig­i­tal paint­ingIt is known for its com­bi­na­tion of sur­re­al­ist styles.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• He is a famous writerNeil Gaiman(Neil Gaiman)‘s long-term part­ner.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: He illus­trat­ed Gaiman’s pic­ture book,Wolves in the Wall-The Wolves in the Walls(Illus­tra­tions were drawn in 2003).
• style: His illus­tra­tions broke away from the sweet style of tra­di­tion­al chil­dren’s books, cre­at­ing a bizarre yet charm­ing atmos­phere with dark fairy tale ele­ments, great­ly expand­ing the expres­sive pow­er of pic­ture books. The book was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Dave McK­ean | Dave McK­ean (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ December 29, 1925 – Died: Felix Valodon

Swiss-French painter and print­mak­erFelix Val­odonFélix Val­lot­ton (1865–1925) died. (Note: He had just cel­e­brat­ed his birth­day the day before, Decem­ber 28th.)

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• As a mas­ter of the Nabis school, he wrote the lyrics for Jules Renard’s clas­sic work, “The Nabis School”.Car­rot whiskers-Poil de CarotteHis black and white wood­cut illus­tra­tions are wide­ly rec­og­nized as clas­sics of illus­tra­tion art. These works, with their min­i­mal­ist black and white con­trast, pro­found­ly depict the pro­tag­o­nist’s inner lone­li­ness and rebel­lion, and are includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death Félix Val­lot­ton | Félix Val­lot­ton (Wikipedia) |