Bridge of Ajia

January 22: Today in the history of children’s books

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⚰️ January 22, 2018 — Passed away Ursula K. Le Guin

Amer­i­can famous writerUrsu­la K Le GuinShe passed away in 1929–2018. She holds a pres­ti­gious posi­tion in the field of sci­ence fic­tion and fan­ta­sy lit­er­a­ture, and her works are not only loved by adults but are also clas­sics of young adult lit­er­a­ture.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Earth­sea series（Earth­seaIt is a rec­og­nized mas­ter­piece of fan­ta­sy lit­er­a­ture, con­struct­ing a grand world com­posed of islands and mag­ic.
  • New­bery Hon­or: The sec­ond book in the seriesEarth­sea Tomb-The Tombs of Atu­an, pub­lished in 1971) won 1972 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.
  • Oth­er hon­ors: The third book in the series, *Beyond Earth­sea*, won the Nation­al Book Award. She rede­fined fan­ta­sy lit­er­a­ture with her pro­found philo­soph­i­cal reflec­tions, explo­rations of the con­cept of equi­lib­ri­um, and por­tray­als of non-white pro­tag­o­nists.

| Death Ursu­la K. Le Guin Ursu­la K. Le Guin (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born January 22, 1963: Jerry Craft

Amer­i­can car­toon­ist and writerJer­ry Craftborn.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Medal: He relied on “New stu­dents-New Kid(Pub­lished in 2019) won the award 2020 New­bery Medal.
  • His­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: This is in his­to­ryPart OneNew­bery Medal win­nerGraph­ic nov­elThe sto­ry is both humor­ous and pro­found, depict­ing the expe­ri­ence of a Black boy who trans­fers to a pres­ti­gious pri­vate school and search­es for belong­ing between two cul­tures.

| born | Jer­ry Craft | Jer­ry Craft (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 22, 1930 – Birth: Brian Wildsmith

British illus­tra­torBri­an Will SmithBorn in 1930–2016. He was hailed as a mas­ter of col­or in the world of pic­ture books.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: He won the award twice (in 1966 and 1968).Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Illus­tra­tionHigh­ly Com­mend­ed.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《A gath­er­ing in the for­est-Jun­gle Par­ty)and“What does the moon see?-What The Moon Saw).
  • style: He excels at using vibrant col­ors and rich tex­tures (such as col­lage, water­col­or, and gouache) to trans­form each page of his pic­ture book into a dynam­ic work of mod­ern art.

| born | Bri­an Wild­smith | Bri­an Wild­smith (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 22, 1930 – Birth: Blair Lent

Amer­i­can illus­tra­torBlair LantBorn (1930–2009).

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Medal: He relied on “The Laugh­ing Old Lady Who Lost the Rice Ball-The Fun­ny Lit­tle Woman(Author: Arlene Mosel, pub­lished in 1972) won [award name miss­ing] 1973 Calde­cott Medal.
  • style: This book is adapt­ed from a Japan­ese folk­tale. With del­i­cate lines and ele­gant col­ors, Lant vivid­ly depicts the sto­ry of an old woman who loves to make rice balls and her bat­tle of wits against an evil spir­it (Oni).

| born Blair Lent | Blair Lent (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 22, 2015 — Passed away Margaret Broy Graham

Cana­di­an-Amer­i­can illus­tra­torMar­garet Broy Gra­ham(Mar­garet Bloy Gra­ham, 1920–2015) passed away.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Dirty Har­ry（Har­ry the Dirty Dog(1956): She illus­trat­ed this clas­sic sto­ry cre­at­ed by her hus­band, Gene Zion. The black-spot­ted white dog, who became so dirty from hat­ing baths that even his fam­i­ly could­n’t rec­og­nize him (trans­form­ing into a white-spot­ted black dog), is one of the most beloved dog char­ac­ters in pic­ture book his­to­ry.
  • Calde­cott Sil­ver Medal: He once won the award for “All of It Fell Down” (All Falling Down) and Chil­dren in the Storm (The Storm BookHe won the award twice.

| Death | Mar­garet Broy Gra­ham | Mar­garet Bloy Gra­ham (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 22, 2020 — Passed away: Susan Jeffers

Amer­i­can illus­tra­torSusan Jef­fersShe died in 1942–2020. She was known for her exquis­ite depic­tions of nat­ur­al scenery.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Awards and hon­ors: With theThree Hap­py Hunters-Three Jovial Hunts­men)get 1974 Calde­cott Hon­orAnd won the fol­low­ing year BIB Gold­en Apple Award.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: She illus­trat­ed the speech giv­en by Chief Seat­tle.Chief Seat­tle’s Procla­ma­tion-Broth­er Eagle, Sis­ter Sky) and illus­tra­tions for Robert Frost’s poet­ryRest­ing hors­es by the woods on a snowy night-Stop­ping by Woods on a Snowy EveningBoth of these works are wide­ly pop­u­lar in Chi­na for their ethe­re­al and beau­ti­ful art style.

| Death | Susan Jef­fers | Susan Jef­fers (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 22, 1882 – Birth: Louis Pergaud

French writerLouis Per­goBorn (1882–1915).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The But­ton Wars（La Guerre des bou­tons(1912): This is a clas­sic nov­el depict­ing a “war” between chil­dren from two vil­lages in rur­al France.
  • Influ­ence: The chil­dren’s spoils of war in the book are but­tons on the oth­er’s clothes (mean­ing they’ll get scold­ed when they get home). The sto­ry is both humor­ous and satir­i­cal of the adult world of war. It has been adapt­ed into movies many times and includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born Louis Per­gaud | Louis Per­gaud (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 22, 1891 – Birth: Antonio Gramsci

Ital­ian Marx­ist philoso­pher and politi­cianAnto­nio Gram­sciBorn (1891–1937).

  • Ori­gins of Chil­dren’s Books:
  • Although pri­mar­i­ly known for his polit­i­cal the­o­ries, his let­ters to chil­dren and his col­lec­tion of sto­ries, *The Hedge­hog Tree*, writ­ten dur­ing his impris­on­ment, are also note­wor­thy.L’al­bero del ric­cioHis sto­ry was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”. These sto­ries are full of alle­gor­i­cal ele­ments and pater­nal love, and they are the spir­i­tu­al nour­ish­ment he passed on to chil­dren from prison.

| born Anto­nio Gram­sci | Anto­nio Gram­sci (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornPat O’Sir (Pat O’Shea)Irish writer. His most famous work is *Mor­ri­g­an’s Hound*.The Hounds of the Mor­ri­g­an), a fan­ta­sy nov­el deeply influ­enced by Celtic mythol­o­gy.Link
bornRafe Mar­tin (Rafe Mar­tin)Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *The Rough-Faced Girl*The Rough-Face Girl( ), a “Cin­derel­la” sto­ry based on the Algo­nquin Indi­an leg­end.Link
DeathCar­olyn Snedek­er (Car­o­line Snedek­er)Amer­i­can writer. Twice.New­bery MedalAward win­ner (Dan­cy, The Hon­est, The For­got­ten Daugh­ter).Link
DeathPam Con­rad (Pam Con­rad)Amer­i­can writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Song of the Prairie*.Prairie Songs), a nov­el depict­ing fron­tier life in Nebras­ka.Link

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