Bridge of Ajia

January 17: Today in the History of Children’s Books

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🎂 January 17, 1922 – Birth: Zbigniew Rychlicki

Pol­ish illus­tra­torZebinu RikoliziBorn in 1922–1989. He was an out­stand­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tive of chil­dren’s illus­tra­tion in East­ern Europe.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1982 Award­edIllus­tra­tor Award.
  • BIB Award: In 1973, with “The Magi­cian of Emer­ald City-Czarnok­siężnik ze Szmarag­dowego gro­duThe Pol­ish ver­sion of “The Wiz­ard of Oz” won the Badge Award at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB).
  • style: His works are diverse in style, and he is skilled in using mixed media. His works are rich in col­or and full of fairy-tale fan­ta­sy. He served as the art direc­tor of the famous Pol­ish chil­dren’s mag­a­zine “Miś” for a long time.

| born | Zbig­niew Rych­lic­ki | Zbig­niew Rych­lic­ki (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 17, 1925 – Birth: Robert Cormier

Amer­i­can writ­ersRobert Cormi­erBorn in 1925–2000. He is wide­ly regard­ed as one of the most con­tro­ver­sial and respect­ed writ­ers in mod­ern young adult (YA) lit­er­a­ture.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Choco­late Wars（The Choco­late War(1974): This nov­el shocked the lit­er­ary world with its uncom­pro­mis­ing real­ism. Set in a Catholic boys’ school, the sto­ry fol­lows Jer­ry as he refus­es to par­tic­i­pate in the school’s choco­late sale protest, expos­ing bul­ly­ing, group pres­sure, and sys­temic cor­rup­tion.
  • The Gen­er­al and His Son（After the First Death: A psy­cho­log­i­cal thriller nov­el about a bus hijack­ing inci­dent.
  • Influ­ence: Cormier’s works broke with the tra­di­tion of “hap­py end­ings” in chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, con­fronting the dark side of human nature and spark­ing count­less dis­cus­sions.

| born | Robert Cormi­er | Robert Cormi­er (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 17, 1984 – Died: Marie Hall Ets

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and authorMary Ho AceShe died in 1895–1984. She is known for her black and white char­coal draw­ings and her del­i­cate depic­tions of ani­mals in nature.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With theChrist­mas is just nine days away.-Nine Days to Christ­mas(Pub­lished in 1959) won an award 1960 Calde­cott Medal.
  • Five-time Calde­cott Hon­or­er: Includ­ing the clas­sic “In the for­est-In the For­est, 1944),Mr. Antho­ny Wu-Mr. TW Antho­ny Woo), 《Play with me-Play With Me), 《Mr. Pen­ney’s Horse Rac­ing-Mr. Pen­ny’s Race Horse)and“The wind likes to play with me-Just Me).
  • style: Her paint­ing style is qui­et and gen­tle, and she is good at con­vey­ing the pure inti­ma­cy between chil­dren and ani­mals through sim­ple lines.

| Death | Marie Hall Ets | Marie Hall Ets (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 17, 1938 – Birth: John Bellairs

Amer­i­can writ­ersJohn BlairBorn in 1938–1991. He was known for writ­ing chil­dren’s sus­pense fan­ta­sy nov­els with a goth­ic style.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Tick-Tock House seriesThe first book The House with a Clock on the Wall（The House with a Clock in Its Walls(1973): This is his most famous work, illus­trat­ed by Edward Gorey, whose unique dark styles com­ple­ment each oth­er per­fect­ly. The sto­ry tells of the orphan Lewis’s adven­tures as he moves in with his uncle, a wiz­ard, and dis­cov­ers a dooms­day clock hid­den in the house wall. The book was lat­er adapt­ed into a film.

| born John Bel­lairs | John Bel­lairs (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 17, 1877 – Birth: May Gibbs

Aus­tralian illus­tra­tor and writerMay GibbsBorn (1877–1969). She was one of the founders of Aus­tralian chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Euca­lyp­tus Baby and Euca­lyp­tus Baby（Snug­gle­pot and Cud­dlepie(1918): Inspired by plants native to Aus­tralia, such as euca­lyp­tus fruit and ban­knotes, she cre­at­ed the clas­sic fan­ta­sy crea­ture, the Gum­nut Babies. This work is a mile­stone in Aus­tralian native chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born May Gibbs | May Gibbs (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 17, 1964 – Died: TH White

British writerTH WhiteHe died in 1906–1964.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Although his most famous work is about King Arthur, The Eter­nal King (The Once and Future KingHow­ev­er, in the field of chil­dren’s books, his book…Minia­ture King­dom of Anxi Island-Mis­tress Masham’s Repose(1946) is equal­ly clas­sic.
  • con­tent: The sto­ry tells of Maria, an oppressed orphan, who dis­cov­ers the fan­tas­ti­cal expe­ri­ences of the Lil­liputians (the peo­ple of Lil­liput) from Gul­liv­er’s Trav­els on an island in the mid­dle of a lake on her fam­i­ly’s estate.

| Death | TH White | TH White (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 17, 2025 — Passed away: Jules Feiffer

Amer­i­can car­toon­ist, play­wright, and illus­tra­torJules Fef­ferHe died in 1929–2025.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • He is known for his min­i­mal­ist, expres­sive lines. In the field of chil­dren’s books, he wrote the lyrics for Philip­pa Pearce’s clas­sic work, *[Title of the book is miss­ing]*.such a small dog-A Dog So Small(Illus­tra­tions were drawn.)
  • His own pic­ture bookMy Tree­top Dad-The Man in the Ceil­ing)and“Woof woof-Bark, GeorgeIt is also a well-known mas­ter­piece.

| Death | Jules Feif­fer | Jules Feif­fer (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 17, 1908 – Birth: Philip Reed

Amer­i­can wood­cut artist and illus­tra­torPhilip ReedBorn (1908–1989).

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Hon­or: He relied on “Moth­er Goose Nurs­ery Rhymes-Moth­er Goose and Nurs­ery Rhymes(Pub­lished in 1963) won awards 1964 Calde­cott Hon­orHis works often employ tra­di­tion­al col­ored wood­cut tech­niques, result­ing in a sim­ple yet ele­gant style.

| born | Philip Reed | Philip Reed (Archives) |

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