March 17: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 Born March 17, 1846: Kate Greenaway

British illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book authorKate Green­awayShe was born in 1846–1901. She, along with Wal­ter Crane and Ran­dolph Calde­cott, is known as one of the “Big Three” of Vic­to­ri­an pic­ture books.

• Impor­tant works and influ­ence:
• Under the Win­dow（Under the Win­dow(1879): Her most famous work sold out imme­di­ate­ly upon its first print­ing, caus­ing a sen­sa­tion in the chil­dren’s book world at the time.
• Artis­tic Style: The chil­dren in her paint­ings, dressed in exquis­ite late 18th-cen­tu­ry style, frol­ic in idyl­lic gar­dens. This fresh, ele­gant, and slight­ly nos­tal­gic style was pop­u­lar through­out Europe at the time and even influ­enced chil­dren’s cloth­ing design trends.
• Eter­nal Hon­or: The British Library Asso­ci­a­tion estab­lished the **Kate Green­away Medal** in 1955 to rec­og­nize artists who have made out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to pic­ture book illus­tra­tion each year. This award remains one of the high­est hon­ors in the glob­al illus­tra­tion indus­try.

| Birth | Kate Green­away | Kate Green­away (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born March 17, 1956: Patrick McDonnell

Amer­i­can car­toon­ist and pic­ture book authorPatrick McDon­nellBorn. He is best known for his com­ic strip “Mutts,” whose pic­ture books are filled with warmth and respect for life and nature.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Hon­or: With theI…have a dream-Me… Jane(Pub­lished in 2011) won the award 2012 Calde­cott Hon­or.
• con­tent: This is a bio­graph­i­cal pic­ture book that tells the sto­ry of Jane Goodal­l’s child­hood dreams. He com­bines pre­cious his­tor­i­cal pho­tographs, sketch­es of Goodal­l’s child­hood, and his own con­cise yet pow­er­ful draw­ing style to per­fect­ly present how a child who loved nature grew into a great sci­en­tist.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Tyk: The Mod­ern Cave­manTek: The Mod­ern Cave BoyThank you, good­night.Thank you and Good Night“I Give You ‘Noth­ing’ ”The Gift of Noth­ing.

| Birth | Patrick McDon­nell | Patrick McDon­nell (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 17, 1998 — Passed away Annegert Fuchshuber

Renowned Ger­man pic­ture book author and illus­tra­torAnnegot Fuchs­hubelHe died in 1940–1998.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (DJLP): With theThe cow­ard­ly giant and the auda­cious dormice-Mäusemärchen – Riesen­geschichte) won 1984 Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (Pic­ture Book Cat­e­go­ry).
• Clas­sic col­lab­o­ra­tion: She illus­trat­ed Michael Ende’s clas­sic pic­ture book, *The Lit­tle Elf Who Eats Night­mares*.Das Traum­fresserchenThey cre­at­ed high­ly imag­i­na­tive and dream­like illus­tra­tions.

| Passed Away | Anegert Fuchs­hubel | Annegert Fuchs­hu­ber (Wiki­da­ta) |

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🎂 Born March 17, 1933: Penelope Lively

British famous writerPene­lope Live­lyBorn. She achieved pin­na­cle suc­cess in both young adult and adult lit­er­a­ture (win­ning the Book­er Prize).

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Carnegie Medal: With theThe Ghost of Thomas Kemp-The Ghost of Thomas Kempe(Pub­lished in 1973) won awards 1973 Carnegie Medal.
• Artis­tic fea­tures: This is an excep­tion­al­ly clever mod­ern humor­ous ghost sto­ry, telling the tale of a 17th-cen­tu­ry sor­cer­er ghost haunt­ing a mod­ern-day boy. Live­ly excels at explor­ing time, his­to­ry, and mem­o­ry through fan­ta­sy; her writ­ing is refined and insight­ful.

| Birth | Pene­lope Live­ly | Pene­lope Live­ly (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
Death	Sid Freish­man (Sid Fleis­chman)	New­bery Medal win­ner (The Whip­ping Boy). This great “magi­cian writer” passed away the day after his 90th birth­day, leav­ing behind a mag­i­cal lit­er­ary lega­cy.	Sid Fleis­chman (Wikipedia)
born	Kei­th Bak­er (Kei­th Bak­er)	Amer­i­can pic­ture book author and illus­tra­tor. Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work, “LMNO Peas,” is beloved by young read­ers for its bright and live­ly lit­tle green pea char­ac­ters.	Kei­th Bak­er (Ency­clo­pe­dia)
born	Sarah (Sara)	French illus­tra­tor.2005 BIB Gold­en Apple AwardThe win­ner (from “Rev­o­lu­tion”)Révo­lu­tionShe is known for her unique col­lage with torn paper art, a style with great visu­al impact.	N/A
born	Lil­lian Moore (Lil­ian Moore)	Amer­i­can poet and writer. Her most famous work is “My First Count­ing Book.” She was a key fig­ure in pop­u­lar­iz­ing chil­dren’s poet­ry in the Unit­ed States.	Lil­ian Moore (Wikipedia)
born	Ralph Fletch­er (Ralph Fletch­er)	Amer­i­can author and writ­ing edu­ca­tion expert. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is “Fig Pud­ding,” in which he teach­es chil­dren how to write through heart­warm­ing and authen­tic sto­ries.	Ralph Fletch­er (Wikipedia)
born	Ennis Rees (Ennis Rees)	Amer­i­can trans­la­tor and poet. He retells clas­si­cal epics (such as Home­r’s epics) in rhyth­mic chil­dren’s ver­sions, such as “Broth­er Rab­bit and His Mis­chief”.	Ennis Rees (Wikipedia)