Bridge of Ajia

March 9th: Today in the history of children’s books

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🎂 Born March 9, 1964: Harry Bliss

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and car­toon­ist for The New York­erHar­ry BlissBorn. His unique­ly Amer­i­can-style humor­ous com­ic book style is dis­tinc­tive in the world of pic­ture books.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • “The “Insect Diary” tril­o­gy: He col­lab­o­rat­ed with author Doreen Cronin on the phe­nom­e­nal best­selling pic­ture book, *Diary of a Worm*.（Diary of a Worm）、The Spi­der’s Diary（Diary of a Spi­der)andDiary of a Fly**Diary of a Fly).
  • fea­ture: Using a first-per­son diary for­mat and hilar­i­ous com­ic pan­els, Brice clev­er­ly incor­po­rates the bio­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics of insects/arthropods (such as how earth­worms write with­out hands or how spi­ders molt) into chil­dren’s famil­iar school and fam­i­ly life. The count­less amus­ing details hid­den in the illus­tra­tions make it a favorite among both adult and young read­ers.

| Birth | Har­ry Bliss | Har­ry Bliss (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born March 9, 1939: Ellen Levine

Out­stand­ing Amer­i­can non-fic­tion chil­dren’s book authorAlan LevinBorn in 1939–2012. She was adept at trans­form­ing heavy his­tor­i­cal themes into mov­ing sto­ries that chil­dren could under­stand and res­onate with.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Hen­ry’s Free­dom Box（Hen­ry’s Free­dom Box(2007): This is her most well-known rep­re­sen­ta­tive work.
  • con­tent: Based on true his­tor­i­cal events, this book tells the poignant sto­ry of Hen­ry “Box” Brown, an Amer­i­can slave, who, in his quest for free­dom, endured immense grief and fear, hud­dled in a small wood­en box, and escaped to Philadel­phia by mail. (Note: The book fea­tures high­ly evoca­tive illus­tra­tions by renowned African-Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor Kadir Nel­son, and won the Calde­cott Hon­or.)

| Birth | Ellen Levine | Ellen Levine (Wiki­da­ta) |

🎂 Born March 9, 1903: Bernarda Bryson

Amer­i­can artist and illus­tra­torBernar­da BrysonBorn in 1903–2004. She was also the wife of the famous artist Ben Shahn.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Hon­or: With theThe sun is a gold­en ear­ring-The Sun Is a Gold­en Ear­ringPub­lished in 1962, writ­ten by Natalia M. Belt­ing, it won the… 1963 Calde­cott Hon­or.
  • fea­ture: This book col­lects poet­ic leg­ends about the sun, moon, and stars from ancient tribes around the world. Bryson uses exquis­ite line illus­tra­tions with a mod­ern and sym­bol­ic touch to per­fect­ly cap­ture the mys­ti­cal atmos­phere of these myths.

| Birth | Bernar­da Bryson | Bernar­da Bryson (Wikipedia) |

🎂 March 9, 1899 – Birth: Jennie Lindquist

Amer­i­can author and chil­dren’s book edi­torJen­ny LindqvistBorn (1899–1977).

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Hon­or: With theGold­en Name Day-The Gold­en Name Day(Pub­lished in 1955) won awards 1956 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.
  • con­tent: Based on the author’s own Swedish back­ground, the sto­ry tells a series of heart­warm­ing fam­i­ly sto­ries about a girl named Nan­cy who spends the sum­mer at her grand­par­ents’ house in the coun­try­side, try­ing to find her name on the tra­di­tion­al Swedish “name day” cal­en­dar.

| Birth | Jen­nie Lindquist | Jen­nie Lindquist (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born March 9, 1928: Lore Segal

Aus­tri­an-Amer­i­can writer and trans­la­torLor SiegelBorn (1928–2024).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Tell the Miz Sto­ry（Tell Me a Mitzi(1970): This is a pic­ture book with a unique sense of humor that tells three every­day sto­ries about the Miz and her broth­er in a New York City fam­i­ly (illus­trat­ed by Har­ri­et Pin­cus).
  • back­ground: Her child­hood includ­ed the “Kinder­trans­port” dur­ing the ear­ly stages of World War II, dur­ing which she fled Nazi Aus­tria. This unique expe­ri­ence of exile and cross-cul­tur­al inter­ac­tion pro­found­ly influ­enced the calm and insight­ful tone of her work.

| Birth | Lore Segal | Lore Segal (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornA. Lafi (A. LaFaye)Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: *Worth It*Worth(2004), won the Scott O’Dell His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion Award, tells the sto­ry of a farm boy in the late 19th cen­tu­ry who feels he has lost his “worth” because of a bro­ken leg, and a boy on the “Orphan Train”.N/A
bornAngel­i­ca Kauf­man (Ange­li­ka Kauf­mann)Aus­tri­an illus­tra­tor.1973 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (from “A Horse Tells a Sto­ry”)Ein Pferd erzählt).N/A

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