March 7: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ March 7, 2023 — Passed away Ian Falconer

A renowned Amer­i­can chil­dren’s book author, illus­tra­tor, and the­ater set and cos­tume design­er.Ian Faulkn­erHe passed away in 1959–2023.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Hon­or: With theOlivia-Olivia(Pub­lished in 2000) won an award 2001 Calde­cott Hon­or.
• Clas­sic image: This ener­getic, con­fi­dent, and even slight­ly dom­i­neer­ing pig girl, “Olivia,” wear­ing a red dress, became a glob­al sen­sa­tion upon her debut. Faulkn­er clev­er­ly used black, white, and his sig­na­ture bright red, com­bined with the the­ater-designed back­grounds, to cre­ate visu­als full of min­i­mal­ist style and dra­mat­ic ten­sion.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works in the series: “Olivia Does­n’t Want to Be a Princess” and “Olivia Saves the Cir­cus,” among oth­ers.

| Passed Away | Ian Fal­con­er | Ian Fal­con­er (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 7, 1975 – Died: Kate Seredy

Hun­gar­i­an-Amer­i­can renowned chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture author and illus­tra­torKate Sared­dyShe died in 1899–1975. She ded­i­cat­ed her­self to intro­duc­ing the cul­ture and folk tales of her native Hun­gary to read­ers in the Eng­lish-speak­ing world.

• High­est Hon­or:
• New­bery Medal: With thewhite stag-The White Stag(Pub­lished in 1937) won awards New­bery Medal, 1938This epic work retells the myths and leg­ends of the found­ing of Hun­gary, and tells the mag­nif­i­cent sto­ry of the Huns and Mag­yars search­ing for the Promised Land, guid­ed by a mys­te­ri­ous white deer.
• New­bery Hon­or: With theDaugh­ter of the Great Grass­land-The Good Mas­ter(Pub­lished in 1935) won the Sil­ver Medal in 1936. The sto­ry takes place on the Hun­gar­i­an steppes before World War I and depicts the friend­ship and growth between a city girl and a coun­try boy.

| Passed Away | Kate Seredy | Kate Seredy (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 March 7, 1893 – Birth: Monica Shannon

Cana­di­an-Amer­i­can chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writerMon­i­ca Shan­nonBorn (1893–1965).

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Medal: With theDobri-Dobry(Pub­lished in 1934) won awards New­bery Medal, 1935.
• con­tent: This is a nov­el that deeply depicts the cus­toms and cul­ture of Bul­gar­ia. It tells the sto­ry of a Bul­gar­i­an farm boy named Dobri who defies his moth­er’s wish for him to inher­it the farm and tena­cious­ly pur­sues his artis­tic dream of becom­ing a sculp­tor.

| Birth | Mon­i­ca Shan­non | Mon­i­ca Shan­non (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born March 7, 1949: Jane Dyer

Famous Amer­i­can illus­tra­torJane DaleBirth. Her water­col­or style is extreme­ly gen­tle and del­i­cate, and she excels at cre­at­ing a warm fam­i­ly atmos­phere.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Good­night, Baby（Time for Bed(Writ­ten by Mem Fox): This is an extreme­ly clas­sic bed­time pic­ture book. Dale uses soft strokes to depict var­i­ous baby ani­mals falling asleep under their moth­er’s com­fort­ing touch.
• The Big Les­son from a Small Cook­ie（Cook­ies: Bite-Size Life Lessons: In col­lab­o­ra­tion with Amy Krouse Rosen­thal, using vivid scenes of ani­mals and chil­dren mak­ing cook­ies, this book explains com­plex philo­soph­i­cal con­cepts (such as what patience and respect are) in a sim­ple and easy-to-under­stand way.

| Birth | Jane Dyer | Jane Dyer (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 7, 1995 — Died: Paul-Emile Victor

French polar explor­er, eth­nol­o­gist, and writerPaul-Emil Vic­torHe died in 1907–1995.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• “Lit­tle Snowflake Apsak”（Apout­si­ak le petit flo­con de neige(1948): This is an excep­tion­al­ly unique and authen­tic pic­ture book. Based on his expe­ri­ences liv­ing with the Inu­it peo­ple in Green­land, Vik­tor Aquinas cre­at­ed this book depict­ing the life of an Inu­it boy named Apsak, from birth, learn­ing to hunt, mar­riage, to his death. It is not only a mov­ing sto­ry but also a valu­able anthro­po­log­i­cal record, and has been includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*.

| Passed Away | Paul-Émile Vic­tor | Paul-Émile Vic­tor (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Mar­garet Goff Clark (Mar­garet Goff Clark)	Amer­i­can author. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Free­dom Fer­ry*.Free­dom Cross­ing), a clas­sic his­tor­i­cal nov­el set against the back­drop of the Under­ground Rail­road move­ment, tells the thrilling sto­ry of help­ing enslaved peo­ple escape.	Mar­garet Goff Clark (Wikipedia)
born	Rein­hard Kaiser (Rein­hard Kaiser)	Ger­man writer and trans­la­tor. Win­ner of the 1997 Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (Non­fic­tion) for *The King’s Chil­dren: A True Love Sto­ry*.Königskinder – Eine wahre Liebe).	Rein­hard Kaiser (Wiki­da­ta)
born	Bar­bara Wald­schutz (Bar­bara Wald­schütz)	Aus­tri­an illus­tra­tor.1991 BIB Badge Awardwin­ner (Klick­et­ick).	N/A
Death	Mon­i­ca Hugh­es (Mon­i­ca Hugh­es)	A renowned British-Cana­di­an sci­ence fic­tion writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Cri­sis on the Tenth Con­ti­nen­tal Shelf*.Cri­sis on Con­shelf TenShe was a pio­neer of Cana­di­an sci­ence fic­tion for young adults, and her works were includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.	Mon­i­ca Hugh­es (Wikipedia)
Death	Robert Ben­der (Robert Ben­der)	Amer­i­can chil­dren’s book author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *Lit­tle Wiz­ard’s Mag­ic* (…)A Lit­tle Witch Mag­icIts unique glass paint­ing illus­tra­tion style is rich in col­or and high­ly expres­sive.	Robert Ben­der (Wikipedia)