Bridge of Ajia

March 11: Today in the History of Children’s Books

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🎂 Born March 11, 1893: Wanda Gág

Amer­i­can renowned pic­to­r­i­al book author and illus­tra­torWan­da GeigerBorn in 1893–1946. She is wide­ly rec­og­nized as one of the pio­neers of mod­ern pic­ture books, being the first to design the left and right pages as a uni­fied visu­al space.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • One Mil­lion Cats（Mil­lions of Cats(1928): Award­ed New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1929This is the old­est authen­tic pic­ture book still being pub­lished in the Unit­ed States, and its dou­ble-page spread design and hand­writ­ten font are ground­break­ing.
  • Calde­cott Hon­or: With Snow White and the Sev­en Dwarfs (1939) and Noth­ing (…),Noth­ing at AllHe won the Calde­cott Hon­or twice (in 1942).
  • Oth­er hon­ors: ABC Rab­bit (The ABC Bun­nyHe won the New­bery Sil­ver Medal in 1934.

| Birth | Wan­da Gág | Wan­da Gág (Wikipedia) |

🎂 March 11, 1916 – Birth: Ezra Jack Keats

A very impor­tant Amer­i­can pic­ture book mas­terEzra Jack KeatesBorn (1916–1983).

  • Impor­tant works and his­tor­i­cal con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With theSnowy day-The Snowy Day(Pub­lished in 1962) won awards 1963 Calde­cott Medal.
  • His­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: This is a main­stream Amer­i­can pic­ture bookThe first full-col­or illus­trat­ed book fea­tur­ing an African Amer­i­can child (a young boy named Peter) as the main char­ac­ter.Kitz’s exquis­ite col­lage art and his depic­tion of the inno­cent lives of chil­dren in urban slums com­plete­ly broke down the bar­ri­ers of all-white pro­tag­o­nists in Amer­i­can chil­dren’s books at the time.
  • Series of mas­ter­pieces: “Gog­gles!” won the 1970 Calde­cott Hon­or.Gog­gles!) and Peter’s Chair (Peter’s Chair)wait.

| Birth | Ezra Jack Keats | Ezra Jack Keats (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born March 11, 1931: Janosch

Ger­man nation­al trea­sure-lev­el pic­ture book mas­ter and authorJanos(Orig­i­nal name: Horst Eck­ert) was born.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (DJLP): With his rep­re­sen­ta­tive work “Oh, beau­ti­ful Pana­ma-Oh, wie schön ist Pana­ma) won 1979 Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (Pic­ture Book Cat­e­go­ry)The lit­tle bear and lit­tle tiger with yel­low and black striped “tiger duck” in the book are clas­sic char­ac­ters that are well-known in Ger­many.
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: Award­ed in 1972Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tionHigh­ly praised; he has won two awards for “The Mouse in Red Socks” and “The Old Man and the Bear”. BIB Badge Award.

| Birth | Janosch | Janosch (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ March 11, 1944 – Died: Hendrik Willem van Loon

Dutch-Amer­i­can pop­u­lar his­to­ri­an and authorHen­drik Willem van LoonHe died in 1882–1944.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • The inau­gur­al New­bery Medal: With theThe Sto­ry of Human­i­ty-The Sto­ry of Mankind(Pub­lished in 1921) won awards The first New­bery Medal in 1922.
  • sta­tus: This is a high­ly inspir­ing pop­u­lar his­to­ry book for chil­dren and teenagers. Hen­drik Willem Van Loon used a friend­ly tone and hand-drawn humor­ous illus­tra­tions to trans­form dry his­to­ry into a cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ry, which has had a pro­found influ­ence on pop­u­lar sci­ence writ­ing in the future.

| Deceased | Hen­drik Willem van Loon | Hen­drik Willem van Loon (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ March 11, 1908 – Death: Edmondo De Amicis

Famous Ital­ian nov­el­istEdmun­do de Ami­cisHe died in 1846–1908.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Edu­ca­tion of Love（Cuore(Lit­er­al­ly trans­lat­ed as “Heart”, 1886): This is a world-class clas­sic of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writ­ten in diary form.
  • Influ­ence: The book, told from the per­spec­tive of Enri­co, a fourth-grade stu­dent, records his expe­ri­ences at school and at home, pro­mot­ing patri­o­tism, kind­ness, mutu­al assis­tance, and friend­ship across class lines. This is not only a cor­ner­stone of Ital­ian edu­ca­tion but has also pro­found­ly influ­enced read­ers world­wide, includ­ing in Chi­na, and has been includ­ed in the book series “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

| Deceased | Edmun­do de Ami­cis | Edmon­do De Ami­cis (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
DeathChristi­na Brand (Chris­tian­na Brand)British author. His most famous work is *Nan­ny McPhee*.Nurse Matil­da(This is a sto­ry about a scary-look­ing but mag­i­cal nan­ny who sub­dues a group of mis­chie­vous chil­dren. It was lat­er adapt­ed into a famous movie and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.)Chris­tian­na Brand (Wikipedia)
DeathJohn Wyn­d­ham (John Wyn­d­ham)A renowned British sci­ence fic­tion author. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Choco­late*.Chocky(This is a sto­ry about a boy com­mu­ni­cat­ing tele­path­i­cal­ly with an alien intel­li­gent being, and it is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”).John Wyn­d­ham (Wikipedia)
DeathJuli­et Kappes (Juli­et Kepes)British-Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor.1953 Calde­cott Hon­orThe win­ner (of “Five Lit­tle Mon­keys”)Five Lit­tle Mon­keys).Juli­et Kepes (Wikipedia)
DeathMud­dhart Lovelace (Maud Hart Lovelace)Amer­i­can author. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *Bet­sy-Tassy*.Bet­sy-TacyThe series, a semi-auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal com­ing-of-age nov­el full of warmth and nos­tal­gia, is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.Maud Hart Lovelace (Wikipedia)

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