April 27: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 April 27, 1936 – Born: John Burningham

One of the “Three Mus­ke­teers” of British pic­ture book pub­lish­ing, and one of the great­est pic­ture book authors of the 20th cen­tu­ry. John Burn­ing­ham Born (1936–2019).

• High­est Hon­or:
  • Two-time Kate Green­away Medal recip­i­ent: With her debut workBao’er: A feath­er­less goose(1963) and TheGoing on a riv­er cruise with Uncle GanIt won the gold medal twice (1970).
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • 《Going on a riv­er cruise with Uncle Gan》 (Mr. Gumpy’s Out­ingWith its extreme­ly relaxed and free lines and ele­gant col­ors, it has defined the artis­tic height of mod­ern pic­ture books.
  • 《Sal­ly, stay away from the water.》 (Come Away From The Water, ShirleyThrough the con­trast between real­i­ty and fan­ta­sy on the left and right pages, it pro­found­ly reveals the “mis­align­ment” in par­ent-child com­mu­ni­ca­tion and is an essen­tial clas­sic in pic­ture book nar­ra­tive stud­ies.
• Artis­tic con­tri­bu­tions: He was the first mas­ter to dare to show “irreg­u­lar lines” and “mixed media” in pic­ture books. His works always stand in the child’s posi­tion, sat­i­riz­ing the rigid­i­ty of adults and pro­tect­ing the free­dom of chil­dren’s hearts.

| Birth | John Burn­ing­ham | John Burn­ing­ham (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 April 27, 1898 – Born: Ludwig Bemelmans

Ger­man-Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and author Lud­wig Bemel­mans Born (1898–1962).

• Mile­stone works:
  • “Made­line series (Made­lineThe first book was pub­lished in 1939. The famous open­ing line, “In an old house in Paris, lived twelve girls…” has become a time­less clas­sic in the his­to­ry of chil­dren’s books.
• High­est Hon­or:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With theMade­line’s Dog Sav­ior-Made­line’s Res­cue) won Gold Medal 1954.
• Artis­tic fea­tures: Bemel­man­s’s style is full of French romance and spon­tane­ity. He uses bold brush­strokes to cap­ture the street scenes of Paris, life in the monastery, and the brave, rebel­lious, and vibrant lit­tle girl Madeleine.

| Birth | Bemel­mans | Lud­wig Bemel­mans (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ April 27, 2017 — Died: Peter Spier

Dutch-Amer­i­can renowned illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book author Peter Spi­er He died in 1927–2017.

• High­est Hon­or:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With the word­less pic­ture bookNoah’s Ark-Noah’s Ark) won Gold Medal 1978.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • 《人》 (Peo­pleWith its immense amount of infor­ma­tion and exquis­ite illus­tra­tions, it show­cas­es the diver­si­ty and com­mon­al­i­ties of human­i­ty world­wide and is hailed as “anthro­pol­o­gy on paper.”
• Style char­ac­ter­is­tics: Spi­er was a mas­ter of minia­ture paint­ing, adept at fill­ing panoram­ic, grand scenes with count­less vivid details, allow­ing read­ers to dis­cov­er new sur­pris­es with each read­ing.

| Passed Away | Peter Spi­er | Peter Spi­er (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 April 27, 1955 – Born: Pija Lindenbaum

A high­ly indi­vid­u­al­is­tic con­tem­po­rary Swedish pic­ture book author and illus­tra­tor Pia Lin­den­burg born.

• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and hon­ors:
  • 《Gee­ta and the Moose Broth­ers》 (Git­tan och älgbror­sor­na): Includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”, it tells a humor­ous sto­ry about a timid lit­tle girl who gains courage through imag­i­na­tion.
  • 《Elsa Mary and her sev­en short fathers》 (Else-Marie och små­pap­por­na): Explor­ing fam­i­ly, iden­ti­ty, and accep­tance through absurd imag­i­na­tion.
• Lit­er­ary eval­u­a­tion: Her work is full of typ­i­cal Nordic dry humor and is ded­i­cat­ed to break­ing down stereo­types about “nor­mal” and “abnor­mal”.

| Birth | Pia Lin­den­burg | Pija Lin­den­baum (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Wikipedia link
born	Albrecht von Bodek­er	A renowned Ger­man illus­tra­tor and design­er. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is…Tree thief》 BIB Gold Medal.	A. von Bodeck­er
born	Cecil Day-Lewis	Poet Lau­re­ate of Eng­land (father of Daniel Day-Lewis). His young adult detec­tive nov­el, *[Title of the nov­el is miss­ing]*Water­bury Inci­dentIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.	Cecil Day-Lewis
born	Nan­cy Shaw (Nan­cy Shaw)	Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor. Known for her high­ly rhyth­mic works…Lit­tle lamb rid­ing in a jeepThe series is well-known.	Nan­cy Shaw
born	Jane Hud­son (Jan Hud­son)	Cana­di­an author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: [Title of work not pro­vid­ed]Sweet grassThe book tells the com­ing-of-age sto­ry of a Black­foot girl in the 19th cen­tu­ry.	Jan Hud­son
Death	Anto­nio Gram­sci	Ital­ian philoso­pher. His book, writ­ten for his chil­dren while in prison.Hedge­hog TreeIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.	Anto­nio Gram­sci