January 4th: Today in the history of children’s books

⚰️ January 4, 2019 — Passed away: John Burningham

British renowned chil­dren’s book author and illus­tra­torJohn Burn­ing­hamHe died (1936–2019). He is wide­ly rec­og­nized as one of the great­est cre­ators in the his­to­ry of pic­ture books, for his…A child­like per­spec­tive, a sparse art style, and a blend of real­i­ty and fan­ta­sy.It is known for its nar­ra­tive style.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Going on a Riv­er Trip with Uncle Gan（Mr. Gumpy’s Out­ingThis book, with its light­heart­ed atmos­phere and inclu­sive por­tray­al of chil­dren’s psy­chol­o­gy, not only won the Kate Green­away Medal in the UK, but also… Hon­orary Award at the 1971 Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB).
• Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: He was short­list­ed 2012 Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Illus­tra­tionThe final short­list.
• style: Burn­ing­ham was skilled in using mixed media (crayons, water­col­ors, char­coal, etc.). His paint­ings may seem as casu­al as children’s scrib­bles, but they are actu­al­ly exquis­ite­ly com­posed and full of a pro­found under­stand­ing of child­hood lone­li­ness and imag­i­na­tion (such as “Bao’er”, “Sal­ly, Stay Away from the Water”, “Grand­pa”, and “The Late King”).

🎂 January 4, 1953 – Born: Igor Oleynikov (also translated as “Oleynikov” or “Oleynikov”)

Russ­ian con­tem­po­rary illus­tra­torIgor OnikovBorn into a fam­i­ly of renowned ani­ma­tors, a back­ground that lends his illus­tra­tions a unique cin­e­mat­ic qual­i­ty and dynam­ic beau­ty.

• High­est Hon­or: At 2018 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Illus­tra­tionHe is the sec­ond Russ­ian artist to receive this hon­or.
• Style and con­tri­bu­tions:
• His works fea­ture bold com­po­si­tions, unique per­spec­tives, and he excels at paint­ing on uncon­ven­tion­al mate­ri­als (such as kraft paper), cre­at­ing a strong sense of tex­ture.
• He has rein­ter­pret­ed many clas­sic lit­er­ary works, includ­ing Pushk­in’s fairy tales and Grim­m’s fairy tales, giv­ing these clas­sic sto­ries a new visu­al vital­i­ty and a mod­ern feel. He has had many won­der­ful col­lab­o­ra­tions with Chi­nese authors, such as “The Soul Flies South Like a Bird” (Cao Wenx­u­an), “Polar Bear Mov­ing House” (Dai Yun), and “The Sound of Snow­fall” (Mei Zihan).

⚰️ January 4, 2004 — Passed away Joan Aiken

British writerJoan AikenShe passed away (1924–2004). She was known for her cre­ative works.Goth­ic style, alter­nate his­to­ry and fan­ta­sy themesHe is known for his chil­dren’s nov­els.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Rain­drop Neck­lace（A Neck­lace of Rain­dropsThis col­lec­tion of short fairy tales, includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books,” show­cas­es her extra­or­di­nary abil­i­ty to craft short fan­ta­sy sto­ries, full of poet­ry and mag­ic.
• “The Wolf of Willough­byHer most famous achieve­ment is set in a fic­tion­al Eng­land over­run by wolves and where the Stu­art dynasty was nev­er over­thrown. The plot is thrilling and excit­ing, and it is hailed as a clas­sic of chil­dren’s thriller adven­ture nov­els.

🎂 January 4, 1933 – Birth: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Pro­lif­ic Amer­i­can writerPhyl­lis Reynolds-Nellerborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Medal: Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work isJoy and me-Shiloh(Pub­lished in 1991) won awards 1992 New­bery Medal.
• con­tent: This is a touch­ing sto­ry about a moral dilem­ma, telling the tale of a boy named Mar­ty who lies to his fam­i­ly and fights against the dog’s own­er to pro­tect an abused bea­gle. The book lat­er devel­oped into the famous “Shiloh Tril­o­gy.”

🎂 Born January 4, 1981: Sarah Crossan

Irish writerSarah CrosenBorn. She is a key fig­ure in the devel­op­ment of con­tem­po­rary verse nov­els.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Carnegie Medal: Her workTwo into one-One(Pub­lished in 2015) won the award 2016 Carnegie Medal.
• fea­ture: This nov­el, writ­ten entire­ly in free verse, tells the sto­ry of con­joined twin sis­ters Tip­pi and Grace, their lives, love, and the dif­fi­cult choic­es they face when under­go­ing sep­a­ra­tion surgery. The writ­ing is beau­ti­ful and heart­break­ing.

🎂 Born January 4, 1972: Irma Bastida Herrera

Mex­i­can illus­tra­torIrma Basti­da Her­reraborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• BIB Gold­en Apple Award: She relied on her work “Read­ing: A trib­ute to books and a cel­e­bra­tion of the joy of read­ing-La lec­tura: Elo­gio del libro…) won Gold­en Apple Award at the 2013 Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion (BIB).
• style: Her works are rich in col­or, full of Latin Amer­i­can pas­sion and mag­i­cal real­ism, pay­ing homage to the act of read­ing itself through visu­al art.

⚰️ January 4, 1965 – Died: TS Eliot

Amer­i­can-born British poet, play­wright, and Nobel lau­re­ate in Lit­er­a­tureTS ElliottHe died in 1888–1965.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Although known for his obscure mod­ernist poet­ry (such as *The Waste Land*), he wrote *The Waste Land* for his son.The Old Pos­sum’s Cat Expe­ri­ence-Old Pos­sum’s Book of Prac­ti­cal Cats(1939) is a gem of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.
• Influ­ence: This col­lec­tion of poems vivid­ly depicts cats with var­i­ous dis­tinct per­son­al­i­ties (such as Rock Cat, Rich Cat, and Mag­ic Cat), and lat­er became the blue­print for Andrew Lloyd Web­ber’s famous musi­cal *Cats*, and was includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*.

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
Death	Dick King-Smith (Dick King-Smith)	British author, author of the orig­i­nal nov­el for the film *Babe*. Includ­ed work: *The Raven Chas­er*.	Link
Death	Humphrey Car­pen­ter (Humphrey Car­pen­ter)	British author and biog­ra­ph­er. Work includ­ed: *Mr. Maje­ka*.	Link
born	Edward William Cole (Edward William Cole)	Aus­tralian pub­lish­er. Includ­ed work: *Cole’s Fun­ny Pic­ture Books*.	Link
born	Eric Berry (Erick Berry)	Amer­i­can writer.New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1934The win­ner (The Winged Girl of Knos­sos).	Link
born	Leo Gurko (Leo Gurko)	Pol­ish-Amer­i­can writer.1958 New­bery Sil­ver MedalThe win­ner (Thomas Paine).	Link
Death	Mary Jane Carr (Mary Jane Carr)	Amer­i­can writer.New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1941The win­ner (Lit­tle Mike from Van­cou­ver Cas­tle).	Link
born	Robert Bur­ley (Robert Burleigh)	An Amer­i­can author spe­cial­iz­ing in non-fic­tion pic­ture books. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *Flight* (Flight).	Link
born	Ivan Ganchev (Ivan Gantschev)	Bul­gar­i­an illus­tra­tor.1985 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (Jacob the Stork).	N/A
born	Jean Claviri (Jean Claver­ie)	French illus­tra­tor.1983 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (from “Three Fairy Tales”).	N/A