Bridge of Ajia

February 9th: Today in the history of children’s books

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⚰️ February 9, 2019 — Passed away Tomi Ungerer

French nation­al trea­sure illus­tra­tor and writerTom­my UngerHe passed away in 1931–2019. He was hailed as a “mis­chie­vous child” and “genius” in the world of chil­dren’s pic­ture books, and his works were bold, humor­ous, and often satir­i­cal.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1998 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tion.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Three Rob­bers（The Three Rob­bersThis clas­sic pic­ture book tells the sto­ry of three vicious rob­bers who are redeemed by a lit­tle girl and use their stolen trea­sure to build an orphan­age. It blends dark humor with heart­warm­ing moments and fea­tures strik­ing col­or con­trasts.
  • Mr. Moon（Moon Man): A fan­tas­ti­cal encounter about the moon descend­ing to Earth.
  • Crick­et Tow­er（Cric­tor(This is the sto­ry of a boa python named Krik­ta that becomes an old wom­an’s pet and a vil­lage hero.)

| Death Tomi Unger­er | Tomi Unger­er (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 9, 1974: Suzy Lee

Famous South Kore­an pic­ture book artistSusie LeeSuzy Lee was born. She is known world­wide for her inno­v­a­tive use of the phys­i­cal form of books, espe­cial­ly the spine.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 2022 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tionHe is the first South Kore­an painter to receive this award.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works (Bor­der Tril­o­gy):
  • Waves（Wave): Using the bind­ing edge of the book pages as the coast­line, the inter­ac­tion between the lit­tle girl and the waves is depict­ed.
  • “shad­ow”（Shad­ow(This sec­tion uses the method of flip­ping through pages to show the won­der­ful cor­re­spon­dence between the real world and the shad­ow world.)
  • “Mir­ror”（Mir­ror(This sec­tion explores the rela­tion­ship between the self and its mir­ror image by uti­liz­ing the left-right sym­me­try of the book pages.)

| born Suzy Lee | Suzy Lee (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ February 9, 1874 – Death: Countess of Ségur

Russ­ian-French writerCount­ess of SegurShe died in France (1799–1874). She was a clas­sic rep­re­sen­ta­tive of French chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, and her works were as well-known in France as Moth­er Goose Rhymes were in Eng­land.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Kind Lit­tle Dev­il（Un Bon petit dia­ble): This tells the sto­ry of a mis­chie­vous boy named Charles who, under the influ­ence of his cousin Juli­et (a blind woman), reforms him­self.
  • Sophie’s Trou­bles（Les Mal­heurs de Sophie(Also trans­lat­ed as “Sophie’s Mis­for­tune”): Her most famous work, which describes the end­less mis­chie­vous deeds of a lit­tle girl named Sophie, is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death | Count­ess of Ségur | Count­ess of Segur (Wikipedia) |

🎂 February 9, 1908 – Birth: Hilda van Stockum

Dutch-Amer­i­can author and illus­tra­torHil­da van StokumBorn (1908–2006).

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Hon­or: With theA day of ice skat­ing-A Day on Skates(Pub­lished in 1934) won awards New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1935.
  • con­tent: This is a fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ry about twin sib­lings from Fries­land, Nether­lands, who go on a skat­ing trip when the canals freeze over, and the book is full of Dutch cul­ture and cus­toms.

| born | Hil­da van Stock­um | Hil­da van Stock­um (Wikipedia) |

🎂 February 9, 1863 – Birth: Anthony Hope

British nov­el­ist and play­wrightAntho­ny HopeBorn (1863–1933).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Pris­on­er of Jand­aberg（The Pris­on­er of Zen­da(1894): This is a clas­sic adven­ture romance that pio­neered the “Ruri­tan­ian romance” (refer­ring to court­ly adven­tures in fic­tion­al coun­tries).
  • Influ­ence: The sto­ry tells of the Eng­lish gen­tle­man Larsendall, who trav­els to the fic­tion­al king­dom of Luri­ta­nia and, due to his strik­ing resem­blance to the king, is forced to imper­son­ate him and thwart a con­spir­a­cy. The book is fast-paced and has influ­enced count­less sub­se­quent adven­ture nov­els; it is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

| born Antho­ny Hope | Antho­ny Hope (Wikipedia) |

🎂 February 9, 1928 – Birth: Friso Henstra

Dutch illus­tra­torFriso Hen­stel­laBorn (1928–2013).

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • BIB Gold­en Apple Award: He 1969 With the work “Prac­ti­cal Princess-The Prac­ti­cal Princess(Author: Jay Williams) AwardGold­en Apple Award at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion (BIB)His paint­ing style has a unique sur­re­al­ism and humor­ous lines.

| born Friso Hen­stra | Friso Hen­stra (Inter­net Search) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornAnne Belti­er (Anne Berti­er)French illus­tra­tor.2009 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (of “Make Me a Let­ter”) is skilled at using min­i­mal­ist geo­met­ric shapes in his cre­ations.N/A
DeathIsabel Hol­land (Isabelle Hol­land)Amer­i­can author. His most famous work is *The Face­less Man*.The Man With­out a Face(This is a con­tro­ver­sial young adult nov­el about teacher-stu­dent rela­tion­ships and prej­u­dice, which was lat­er adapt­ed into a film.)Link

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