February 26: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ February 26, 1914 – Died: Sir John Tenniel

British illus­tra­tor and polit­i­cal car­toon­istSir John TynilHe died in 1820–1914.

• His­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: He is from *Alice’s Adven­tures in Won­der­land*.（Alice’s Adven­tures in Won­der­land)andThrough the Look­ing-Glass（Through the Look­ing-Glass)ofThe first illus­tra­tor**.
• con­tribute: His char­ac­ters, such as Alice, the Mad Hat­ter, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat, became the visu­al foun­da­tion for all sub­se­quent adap­ta­tions. With­out Tynil’s black-and-white line draw­ings, brim­ming with the whim­si­cal style of the Vic­to­ri­an era, Lewis Car­rol­l’s sto­ries would be far less cap­ti­vat­ing.
• hon­or: In 1893, he was knight­ed by Queen Vic­to­ria for his artis­tic achieve­ments, becom­ing the first illus­tra­tor or car­toon­ist to receive this hon­or.

⚰️ February 26, 2020 — Passed away Betsy Byars

Famous Amer­i­can chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture authorBessie ByersHe died in 1928–2020.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Medal: With theSum­mer Swans-The Sum­mer of the Swans(Pub­lished in 1970) won an award New­bery Medal, 1971.
• con­tent: The sto­ry fol­lows Sarah, a teenage girl who, that sum­mer, not only feels dis­sat­is­fied with her­self but also has to care for her intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled younger broth­er, Char­lie. When Char­lie gets lost while watch­ing swans, Sarah finds inner peace and the strength to grow while search­ing for her broth­er.
• style: Her works are known for their humor and keen insight into ado­les­cent psy­chol­o­gy and com­plex fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships; her rep­re­sen­ta­tive works also include […].Mid­night Fox-The Mid­night Fox).

🎂 Born February 26, 1931: Judith St. George

Amer­i­can non-fic­tion chil­dren’s book authorJudith St. GeorgeBorn (1931–2015).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• If you want to be pres­i­dent…（So you want to be pres­i­dent?This book, illus­trat­ed by David Small, won the 2001 Calde­cott Medal.
• fea­ture: Judith uses a humor­ous and wit­ty style to recount the quirks, back­grounds, and anec­dotes of past U.S. pres­i­dents (such as who owned an alli­ga­tor and who got stuck in the bath­tub), mak­ing seri­ous his­to­ry vivid and inter­est­ing, which is loved by chil­dren.

⚰️ February 26, 2014 — Passed away Phyllis Krasilovsky

Amer­i­can illus­tra­torPhyl­lis KraslovskyHe died in 1926–2014.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Cow That Fell into the Riv­er（The Cow Who Fell in the Canal(1957): This is a love­ly sto­ry about a Dutch cow named Hen­dri­ka who gets tired of farm life and jumps on a raft to drift into the city for an adven­ture.
• coop­er­ate: The illus­tra­tor of this book isPeter Spi­er(Peter Spi­er) His del­i­cate water­col­or paint­ings per­fect­ly cap­ture the wind­mills, canals, and mar­ket scenes of the Nether­lands.

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
Death	Amy Schwartz (Amy Schwartz)	Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *Bia and Mr. Jones* (Bea and Mr. Jones(This is a humor­ous sto­ry about a lit­tle girl who is tired of kinder­garten and her father who is tired of office work, and they switch roles.)	Link
Death	Yap te Hal (Jaap ter Haar)	Boris John­son, a Dutch his­tor­i­cal nov­el­ist. His most famous work is *Boris John­son*.Boris(This is a frag­ment of a sen­tence and does­n’t trans­late direct­ly.) It tells the sto­ry of a boy’s sur­vival dur­ing the Siege of Leningrad and is full of human­i­tar­i­an bril­liance.	Link
Death	Morteslet Amor (Montser­rat del Amo)	Span­ish writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Paint­ed House*.La casa pin­ta­da(It has won the Span­ish Nation­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Award and was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”).	Link