Bridge of Ajia

January 23: Today in the history of children’s books

author:

Ajia

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🎂 January 23, 1942 – Birth: Jörg Müller

Famous Swiss illus­tra­torYork MillerBorn. He is known for his hyper­re­al­is­tic style and pro­found reflec­tions on the changes in mod­ern civ­i­liza­tion.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1994 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tion.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Bull­doz­ers roar year after year, and the coun­try­side changes（Alle Jahre wieder saust der Preβluftham­mer nieder…This is a pow­er­ful word­less pic­ture book that uses sev­en illus­tra­tions depict­ing the same scene in dif­fer­ent eras to show how rur­al areas are swal­lowed up by indus­tri­al­iza­tion and urban­iza­tion, prompt­ing deep reflec­tion on envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion.
  • Big Bear in the For­est（Der Bär, der ein Bär bleiben wollte): This sto­ry tells of a bear that wakes up from hiber­na­tion to find that the for­est has been turned into a fac­to­ry, and is forced to live like a work­er by humans, explor­ing the themes of self-iden­ti­ty and alien­ation.
  • BIB Award: In 1997, with “The Stead­fast Tin Sol­dier“The book won the Badge Award at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB)”

| born | Jörg Müller | Jörg Müller (Google Search) |

🎂 January 23, 1920 – Birth: Philippa Pearce

British renowned chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture authorPhilip­pa PiercePhilip­pa Pearce (1920–2006) was born. She is wide­ly regard­ed as one of the great­est chil­dren’s authors of the 20th cen­tu­ry, adept at explor­ing the mys­te­ri­ous con­nec­tion between time, mem­o­ry, and child­hood.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Carnegie Medal: Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work isTom’s Mid­night Gar­den-Tom’s Mid­night Gar­den(Pub­lished in 1958) won awards 1958 Carnegie Medal.
  • sta­tus: This book is hailed as a mas­ter­piece of the “time trav­el” genre. The sto­ry tells of a young boy named Tom who, after the clock strikes mid­night, enters a mys­te­ri­ous gar­den that does­n’t exist in day­light, where he forms a deep friend­ship with a girl named Hat­tie that tran­scends time. The book has received crit­i­cal acclaim, has been adapt­ed into numer­ous films and tele­vi­sion series, and is includ­ed in the book *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*.

| born | Philip­pa Pearce | Philip­pa Pearce (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born January 23, 1962: Elvira Lindo

Span­ish writer and jour­nal­istElvi­ra Lin­doborn.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Lit­tle Mano­lin series（Mano­li­to Gafo­tasShe cre­at­ed the char­ac­ter of Mano­li­to Four-Eyes, a talk­a­tive, bespec­ta­cled Madrid boy full of street smarts.
  • style: The series, told in the first per­son, is full of humor, satire, and a real­is­tic por­tray­al of the lives of the Span­ish work­ing class. Among them, [the series includes…]Lit­tle Mano­lin’s Pranks-Los tra­pos suciosIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born Elvi­ra Lin­do | Elvi­ra Lin­do (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 23, 1948 – Birth: Katharine Holabird

Amer­i­can writ­ersKather­ine Holaboldborn.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Angeli­na the Bal­let Fairy（Angeli­na Bal­le­ri­na(Illus­tra­tion by Helen Craig): This sto­ry tells of a lit­tle mouse named Angeli­na who dreams of becom­ing a bal­let dancer and works hard towards that goal. This lit­tle mouse in a pink tulle dress has become a glob­al sen­sa­tion, inspir­ing count­less chil­dren to pur­sue their dreams.

| born Katharine Holabird | Katharine Holabird (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 23, 2020 — Passed away: Gudrun Pausewang

Ger­man writerKing GudrunShe died in 1928–2020. She is best known for her nov­els for young adults that explore themes of peace, envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, and nuclear dan­gers.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Girl Through the Clouds（Die Wolke(Also trans­lat­ed as “The Clouds” or “After the Nuclear Bomb”): This is a cau­tion­ary nov­el that imag­ines the cat­a­stroph­ic scene after a nuclear pow­er plant acci­dent in Ger­many and describes the expe­ri­ences of a young girl named Jana dur­ing her escape, which is extreme­ly shock­ing.

| Death | Gudrun Pause­wang | Gudrun Pause­wang (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born January 23, 1961: Svjetlan Junaković

Croa­t­ian illus­tra­tor and sculp­torSheryl Ion­akovicborn.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: Nom­i­nat­ed twiceHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Illus­tra­tionShort­list (2008, 2010).
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《Ani­mal Por­trait Book-Large Ani­mal Por­trait BookHe demon­strat­ed his unique sense of humor and artis­tic skill by plac­ing ani­mals with­in the com­po­si­tion of clas­sic por­trait paint­ings.
  • BIB Award: In 2001, with “Guess who it is! Who is this col­or?-Rot­er Frosch, grün­er Flamin­go) Received the BIB Badge Award.

| born | Svjet­lan Junaković | Svjet­lan Junaković (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornLau­ren Ford (Lau­ren Ford)Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor.1940 Calde­cott MedalThe win­ner (from “The Eter­nal Sto­ry”).Link
bornRosa Caldev­ille (Ros­er Capdev­ila)Span­ish illus­tra­tor. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *We Are Triplets* (The Triplets(It was lat­er adapt­ed into a famous ani­mat­ed film.)Link
bornWill Hobbs (Will Hobbs)An Amer­i­can author, spe­cial­iz­ing in out­door adven­ture nov­els for young adults. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Bear Rock*.Bear­stone).Link
bornMikhail Fedorov (Michail Fedorov)Russ­ian illus­tra­tor.2007 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (of “A Lit­tle Princess”).N/A
bornWei Lian­ming (Willemien Min)Dutch illus­tra­tor.1989 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (Bird­man).N/A

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