February 24: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 February 24, 1786 – Birth: Wilhelm Grimm

Ger­man lin­guist and folk­loristWilliam GreenBorn (1786–1859). He was the younger of the famous Broth­ers Grimm.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Chil­dren’s and House­hold Tales Col­lec­tion（Kinder- und Haus­märchen(i.e., Grim­m’s Fairy Tales): He and his broth­er Jacob Grimm joint­ly col­lect­ed and com­piled this col­lec­tion of folk tales, which has had the most pro­found influ­ence on world lit­er­a­ture.
• Role divi­sion: Com­pared to his broth­er Jacob, who focused more on aca­d­e­m­ic research, William made greater con­tri­bu­tions to the lit­er­ary pol­ish­ing and styl­is­tic con­sis­ten­cy of fairy tales, turn­ing these oral tra­di­tions into lit­er­ary clas­sics suit­able for chil­dren to read (such as “Cin­derel­la”, “Snow White”, and “Sleep­ing Beau­ty”).

| born | Wil­helm Grimm | Wil­helm Grimm (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born February 24, 1931: Uri Orlev

famous Israeli writerYuri OlafBorn (1931–2022). He was a Holo­caust sur­vivor, and many of his works are based on his expe­ri­ences.

• High­est Hon­or:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1996 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• Islands on Bird Street（The Island on Bird Street(This is a sto­ry about a Jew­ish boy who sur­vives alone in the ruins dur­ing World War II, wait­ing for his father to return. It is full of courage and hope.)
• Run! Boy!（Run, Boy, RunBased on a true sto­ry, it tells the leg­endary sto­ry of a boy with one arm who escaped dur­ing wartime.

| born | Uri Orlev | Uri Orlev (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 24, 1912 – Birth: Jiří Trnka

Czech illus­tra­tor, ani­ma­tion direc­tor, and pup­pet mas­terJili Tang­kaBorn in 1912–1969. He was hailed as the “Walt Dis­ney of the East”.

• High­est Hon­or:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1968 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tion.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and style:
• “gar­den”（Zahra­daThis is also one of his most famous chil­dren’s books, full of whim­sy and imag­i­na­tion.
• style: His illus­tra­tions (such as those for Grim­m’s Fairy Tales and Ander­sen’s Fairy Tales) and pup­pet ani­ma­tions pos­sess a rich Czech nation­al style and poet­ic qual­i­ty. He was adept at using silent pup­pets to express pro­found emo­tions, and his influ­ence on world ani­ma­tion art is far-reach­ing.

| born Jiří Trn­ka | Jiří Trn­ka (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 24, 1920 – Birth: José Mauro de Vasconcelos

Famous Brazil­ian writerJosé Mau­ro de Vas­con­ce­los(José Mau­ro de Vas­con­ce­los, 1920–1984) was born.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• My Dear Sweet Orange Tree（O meu pé de laran­ja lima(1968): This is an auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal nov­el, hailed as a pin­na­cle of Brazil­ian chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.
• con­tent: The book tells the sto­ry of Zeze, a pre­co­cious and sen­si­tive five-year-old boy who, liv­ing under the shad­ow of pover­ty and domes­tic vio­lence, befriends a talk­ing orange tree. The book’s line, “The human heart is vast, capa­ble of hold­ing every­thing we love,” and its explo­ration of gen­tle­ness and growth, have touched count­less read­ers world­wide.

| born José Mau­ro de Vas­con­ce­los | José Mau­ro de Vas­con­ce­los (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ February 24, 2012 — Passed away Jan Berenstain

Amer­i­can writer and illus­tra­torJane BodanShe died in 1923–2012. Togeth­er with her hus­band Stan Beren­stain, she cre­at­ed a clas­sic series that is a house­hold name in the Unit­ed States.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Beren­stain Bears series（The Beren­stain Bears): This cou­ple cre­at­ed a fam­i­ly of bears liv­ing in a tree­house.
• sta­tus: With its detailed depic­tion of every­day fam­i­ly life (such as going to the den­tist, tidy­ing up the room, and deal­ing with new neigh­bors) and its edu­tain­ment style, this series has become an essen­tial read­ing for Amer­i­can fam­i­lies, with glob­al sales reach­ing hun­dreds of mil­lions.

| Death | Jan Beren­stain | Jan Beren­stain (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born February 24, 1979: Peter Brown

A renowned con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­can pic­to­r­i­al book author and illus­tra­torPeter Brownborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Hon­or: With theTer­ri­fy­ing Car­rots-Creepy Car­rots!Pub­lished in 2012, writ­ten by Aaron Reynolds, it won an award. 2013 Calde­cott Hon­orThis is a unique­ly styled dark humor pic­ture book that pays homage to clas­sic thriller films.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: His sci­ence fic­tion pic­ture book, *Wilder­ness Robot*The Wild RobotThe series is also very pop­u­lar and has been adapt­ed into a movie.

| born | Peter Brown | Peter Brown (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
Death	Harold Kei­th (Harold Kei­th)	Amer­i­can writer.1958 New­bery MedalThe win­ner (from “Vot­ty’s Rifle”)Rifles for Watie), a clas­sic his­tor­i­cal nov­el about the Amer­i­can Civ­il War.	Link
Death	Helen Sewell (Helen Sewell)	Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor.1955 Calde­cott Hon­orThe recip­i­ent (Thanks­giv­ing). She was also the illus­tra­tor of the first edi­tion of Roland Ingalls Wilder’s Lit­tle House series.	Link
Death	Mar­i­on Harvighurst (Mar­i­on Hav­ighurst)	Amer­i­can writer.1950 New­bery MedalThe win­ner (“Song of the Pine Tree”) co-authored with her hus­band, Wal­ter Hav­ighurst (who died on Feb­ru­ary 3).	Link