February 19: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ February 19, 2002 — Passed away Virginia Hamilton

One of the most influ­en­tial African Amer­i­can chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture authorsVir­ginia Hamil­tonHe died in 1936–2002.

• High­est Hon­or:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1992 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers.
• New­bery Medal: With theThe amaz­ing MC Hig­gins-MC Hig­gins, the Great(Pub­lished in 1974) won awards 1975 New­bery MedalShe is in his­to­ryFirstThe Black author who won the award.
• Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Her­itage Award (CLLA): Win­ner in 1995.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Fly­ing Man（The Peo­ple Could FlyThis is a col­lec­tion of Black folk tales. The book tells the leg­end of slaves fly­ing back to Africa and regain­ing their free­dom. It is a cor­ner­stone of African Amer­i­can lit­er­a­ture.
• Gilly（Zeely): Her debut work, which launched her illus­tri­ous career in depict­ing the expe­ri­ences of Black peo­ple.

| Death | Vir­ginia Hamil­ton | Vir­ginia Hamil­ton (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ February 19, 2016 — Passed away Harper Lee

Amer­i­can writ­ersHarp­er LeeHe died in 1926–2016.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• To Kill a Mock­ing­bird（To Kill a Mock­ing­bird(1960): Although not orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished as a chil­dren’s book, this nov­el, told from the per­spec­tive of a girl named Scout, has become a lit­er­ary clas­sic for young peo­ple around the world due to its pro­found themes of race, jus­tice, and grow­ing up.
• sta­tus: The father in the book, Atti­cus Finch, became a sym­bol of integri­ty and con­science. The book is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death Harp­er Lee | Harp­er Lee (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 19, 1903 – Birth: Louis Slobodkin

Amer­i­can sculp­tor and illus­tra­torLouis Slo­bod­kinBorn (1903–1975).

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Medal: With theMany moons-Many MoonsPub­lished in 1943, by James Thurbervin (win­ner of numer­ous awards). 1944 Calde­cott MedalThis is a sto­ry about a lit­tle princess who wants the moon, but the adults in the palace are at a loss, and only a clown solves the prob­lem. (Note: The ver­sion illus­trat­ed by Mark Simont is often trans­lat­ed as “The Princess and the Moon”).
• Clas­sic illus­tra­tions: He wrote Eleanor Estes’s *One Hun­dred Dress­es*.The Hun­dred Dress­esShe drew illus­tra­tions, sketch­ing out the touch­ing sto­ry about bul­ly­ing and for­give­ness with just a few strokes.

| born Louis Slo­bod­kin Louis Slo­bod­kin (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ February 19, 2017 — Passed away Nancy Willard

Amer­i­can writer and poetNan­cy WillardHe died in 1936–2017.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Medal: With theVis­it­ing William Blake’s Hotel-A Vis­it to William Blake’s InnPub­lished in 1981, illus­trat­ed by Alice Proven­son and Mar­tin Proven­son, it won the… 1982 New­bery Medal.
• Unique fea­tures: This is the New­bery Medal’s his­to­ry.The first (and one of the very few) poet­ry col­lec­tions to win the gold medalThe book fea­tures a fic­tion­al inn run by William Blake, filled with fan­tas­ti­cal imag­i­na­tion and homages to Blake’s poet­ry.

| Death | Nan­cy Willard | Nan­cy Willard (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ February 19, 2022 — Passed away: Jan Pieńkowski

Pol­ish-British illus­tra­tor and writerJan Pin­cusiHe died in 1936–2022.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Rain­drop Neck­lace（A Neck­lace of Rain­dropsHe cre­at­ed the famous sil­hou­ette illus­tra­tions for this col­lec­tion of short fairy tales by Joan Aiken.
• oth­er: He also wrote “McG and Mog” (Meg and MogThe series and the ground­break­ing pop-up book “The Haunt­ed House“Haunt­ed HouseHe is known for his diverse style, espe­cial­ly his skill in using black sil­hou­ettes and mar­ble-tex­tured back­grounds.

| Death Jan Pieńkows­ki | Jan Pieńkows­ki (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ February 19, 1937 – Died: Horacio Quiroga

Uruguayan play­wright, poet, and short sto­ry writerHora­cio QuirogaHe died in 1878–1937.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Sto­ry in the Jun­gle（Cuen­tos de la sel­va(1918): This is hailed as the Latin Amer­i­can ver­sion of The Jun­gle Book.
• con­tent: Based on his expe­ri­ences liv­ing in the jun­gles of Misiones, Argenti­na, Quiroga cre­at­ed these fables about the coex­is­tence of humans and ani­mals (such as tur­tles, flamin­gos, and croc­o­diles), which are both mag­i­cal and full of the cru­el­ty and warmth of real­i­ty, and were includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death Hora­cio Quiroga | Hora­cio Quiroga (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Gilles Kre­ments (Jill Kre­mentz)	Amer­i­can pho­tog­ra­ph­er and author. His most famous work is *A Very Young Dancer*.A Very Young Dancer( ), using pho­tog­ra­phy to doc­u­ment chil­dren’s pur­suit of their dreams.	Link
born	Eli­jah Oki­na (Ira­ia Oki­na)	Span­ish illus­tra­tor.2013 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (of “The Moon Awak­ens”).	N/A
Death	Ann Grefa­coni (Ann Gri­fal­coni)	Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor.1987 Calde­cott Hon­orThe book, “Round Hous­es and Square Hous­es,” tells the ori­gin sto­ry of the unique liv­ing cus­toms of the vil­lage of Tos in Cameroon.	Link
Death	Paul B. Janet­sko (Paul B. Janeczko)	Amer­i­can poet and anthol­o­gy edi­tor. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is “Poke Me” (…).A Poke in the I), a clas­sic anthol­o­gy of **con­crete poet­ry**.	Link