February 13: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 February 13, 1881 – Birth: Eleanor Farjeon

British renowned chil­dren’s author and poetIre­na FargeenBorn (1881–1965).

• High­est Hon­or:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1956 Award­edThe First Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ersThis estab­lished her lofty posi­tion in the his­to­ry of world chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.
• Carnegie Medal: With the short sto­ry col­lec­tion “Small study-The Lit­tle Book­room(Pub­lished in 1955) won awards 1955 Carnegie Medal.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Lit­tle Study（The Lit­tle Book­roomThis is her per­son­al selec­tion of the best sto­ries, full of fan­ta­sy, poet­ry and a love of books.
• “break­ing Dawn”（Morn­ing Has Bro­kenThis wide­ly cir­cu­lat­ed hymn (which was lat­er pop­u­lar­ized by Cat Stevens) was also writ­ten by her.
• her­itage: The pres­ti­gious Irene Fargean Award in the UK is named after her and is used to rec­og­nize those who have made out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to chil­dren’s books. born | Eleanor Far­jeon | Eleanor Far­jeon (Wikipedia) |

---

🎂 Born February 13, 1932: Simms Taback

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book authorSims Tar­beckBorn in 1932–2011. He was known for his bright­ly col­ored, humor­ous, and clev­er­ly designed “die-cut books”.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Medal: With theJoseph had an old coat-Joseph Had a Lit­tle Over­coat(Pub­lished in 1999) won awards 2000 Calde­cott Medal.
• con­tent: Adapt­ed from a Jew­ish folk song, the book tells the sto­ry of Joseph trans­form­ing his worn-out coat into a jack­et, vest, scarf… until final­ly it became a but­ton. The cut-out designs on the pages clev­er­ly show­case the trans­for­ma­tion of the cloth­ing.
• Calde­cott Hon­or: With theAn old woman swal­lowed a fly.-There Was an Old Lady Who Swal­lowed a Fly(Pub­lished in 1997) won an award 1998 Calde­cott Hon­or.

| born Simms Taback | Simms Taback (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 13, 1956: Carole Boston Weatherford

A renowned African Amer­i­can writer and poetCar­ole Boston Weath­er­fordBorn. She excels at using poet­ry to tell sto­ries of African Amer­i­can his­to­ry and jazz.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Her­itage Award (CLLA): 2025 The win­ner.
• New­bery Hon­or: With theBox: Hen­ry Brown sent him­self to free­dom-Box: Hen­ry Brown Mails Him­self to Free­dom(Pub­lished in 2020) won the award 2021 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.
• Calde­cott Hon­or: Her workFree­dom cel­e­bra­tion at Con­go Square-Free­dom in Con­go Square(Illus­tra­tion by R. Gre­go­ry Christie) won the 2017 Calde­cott Hon­or.

| born | Carol Boston Weatherford | Carole Boston Weatherford (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 13, 1954: Mary GrandPré

Famous Amer­i­can illus­tra­torMary Grand­preyborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Hon­or: With theNoisy paint box-The Noisy Paint BoxPub­lished in 2014, writ­ten by Barb Rosen­stock, it won awards. 2015 Calde­cott Hon­orThis is a pic­ture book about the synes­the­sia (hear­ing col­ors and see­ing sounds) of the child­hood of the abstract painter Kandin­sky.
• Pop­u­lar Cul­ture: She is best known as the cov­er and inte­ri­or illus­tra­tor for the Amer­i­can edi­tion of the Har­ry Pot­ter series, cre­at­ing the icon­ic image of the bespec­ta­cled boy with a light­ning bolt scar on his fore­head.

| born | Mary GrandPré | Mary Grand Pré (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 13, 1949: Frédéric

Clement)

French illus­tra­tor and writerFred­er­ick Clementborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• BIB Grand Prix: He 1985 With the work “Fables about ani­mals-Bes­ti­aire fab­uleux) wonGrand Prix at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion (BIB)His works are exquis­ite and mys­te­ri­ous, often pos­sess­ing a del­i­cate tex­ture rem­i­nis­cent of a nat­ur­al his­to­ry ency­clo­pe­dia.

| born | Frédéric Clement | Frédéric Clement (French Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	William Slater (William Sleator)	Amer­i­can sci­ence fiction/horror nov­el­ist. His most famous work is *Star Pig*.Inter­stel­lar Pig(This is a title that is pop­u­lar among teenagers due to its imag­i­na­tive and imag­i­na­tive con­cepts.)	Link
born	Gavin Bish­op (Gavin Bish­op)	A New Zealand illus­tra­tor. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is “Mr. Fox” (…).Mr. Fox(It has won New Zealand nation­al book awards mul­ti­ple times.)	Link
born	Per Nel­son (Per Nils­son)	Swedish writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Joy of the Heart*.Hjär­tans fröjd), a mas­ter­piece depict­ing the psy­chol­o­gy of first love.	Link
born	Chiara Karel (Chiara Car­rer)	Ital­ian illus­tra­tor.2003 BIB Gold­en Apple AwardThe win­ner (of “Whose Fault Is This?”) has an avant-garde style and makes good use of col­lage.	N/A
born	Gus­ta­vo Mar­tin Gar­so (Gus­ta­vo Martín Gar­zo)	Span­ish writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Three Fairy Tales*.Tres cuen­tos de hadas(He) won the Span­ish Nation­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Award.	Link
born	Mary Gould Davis (Mary Gould Davis)	Amer­i­can author and sto­ry­teller.New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1932The win­ner (The Truce of the Wolves).	Link