May 2nd: Today in the history of children’s books

⚰️ May 2, 2018 — Died: Satoshi Kako

A lead­ing fig­ure in the Japan­ese pic­ture book indus­try and a renowned PhD in engi­neer­ing. Kaguriko(His real name was Tet­su Nakashima, 1926–2018) passed away. He was hailed as the “Leonar­do da Vin­ci of pic­ture books” not only because of his pro­lif­ic out­put (more than 600 works), but also because he reached the pin­na­cle in both the fields of sci­ence pic­ture books and sto­ry pic­ture books.

  • The com­bi­na­tion of sci­ence and art:
    • As a chem­i­cal engi­neer, he firm­ly believes that sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge should be con­veyed to chil­dren in an inter­est­ing way.
    • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《riv­er》《》《Earth“as well as“Your body(The “Body Sci­ence Pic­ture Book” series). These works are log­i­cal­ly rig­or­ous and rich in detail, set­ting a bench­mark for sci­ence enlight­en­ment pic­ture books.
  • Clas­sic sto­ry:
    • Crow Bak­eryThis is a very vibrant work that show­cas­es fam­i­ly warmth, hard work in entre­pre­neur­ship, and a rich vari­ety of cre­ativ­i­ty. It is a clas­sic pic­ture book that is a nation­al trea­sure in Japan.
  • sta­tus: Kako Riko ded­i­cat­ed her life to “cul­ti­vat­ing chil­dren’s abil­i­ty to think inde­pen­dent­ly through the pow­er of sci­ence and cul­ture.”

| Death | Kaguriko | Satoshi Kako (Wikipedia) |


🎂 May 2, 1935 – Born: André Dahan

Famous French illus­tra­tor and painter André Dahan Born. He is affec­tion­ate­ly known as the “poet of col­or” by read­ers for his extreme­ly soft, dreamy, and poet­ic style of col­or.

  • Key Achieve­ments:
    • BIB Gold­en Apple Award: With theThe ice­berg took flight!-Héli­co et l’ice­berg) won 1991 Gold­en Apple Award.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
    • Hel­lo, moon!This is his most well-known work, which uses a sim­ple sto­ry to depict the puri­ty of friend­ship.
    • Dear Lit­tle Fish》 (Dear Lit­tle FishIt explores the deep­er mean­ing of love and free­dom.
  • Artis­tic fea­tures: Deon’s paint­ings often use large areas of col­or and blurred out­lines to cre­ate a hazy, impres­sion­is­tic beau­ty. His sto­ries are always full of ten­der­ness, giv­ing chil­dren a great sense of secu­ri­ty.

| Birth | André Dahan | André Dahan (Ric­o­chet) |


🎂 May 2, 1939 – Born: Mairi Hedderwick

British (Scot­tish) renowned author and illus­tra­tor Mary Hed­wick born.

  • Key Achieve­ments:
    • Katie Deliv­ers the Par­cel (Katie Mor­ag Deliv­ers the MailIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.
  • sta­tus: She used ““Sun­ny Girl Katie”The series is renowned for its vivid depic­tions of dai­ly life in the fic­tion­al Isle of Stru­ay, Scot­land. Her art style is del­i­cate, real­is­tic, and imbued with a strong sense of local cul­ture, mak­ing it not only beloved by chil­dren but also pos­sess­ing sig­nif­i­cant anthro­po­log­i­cal val­ue.

| Birth | Mary Hed­wick | Mairi Hed­der­wick (Wikipedia) |


🎂 May 2, 1934 – Born: Paul Nussbaumer

Famous Swiss illus­tra­tor Paul Nuss­baumer born.

  • Key Achieve­ments:
    • BIB Sil­ver Medal (Plaque): With theson of Tell-Der Knabe des Tell) won First BIB Sil­ver Medal in 1967.
  • Cul­tur­al con­tri­bu­tions: This work is adapt­ed from the leg­endary sto­ry of the Swiss nation­al hero William Tell. Nuss­baumer suc­cess­ful­ly con­veys the his­tor­i­cal spir­it of Switzer­land to a younger gen­er­a­tion of read­ers with a grand visu­al style rem­i­nis­cent of clas­si­cal murals.

| Birth | Paul Nuss­baumer | Paul Nuss­baumer (Wikipedia) |


🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsWikipedia link
DeathEle­na Dur­ley (Eleanor Door­ly)British author. With his nov­el…The Sto­ry of Marie Curie》 (The Radi­um WomanAward­ed 1939 Carnegie Medal.Eleanor Door­ly
bornRegi­nald Becky (Regi­nald Birch)A mas­ter of the Gold­en Age of Amer­i­can illus­tra­tion. (For…)Lit­tle LordHe cre­at­ed illus­tra­tions that defined an era.Regi­nald Birch
bornStephen W. Mead (Stephen W. Mead­er)A pro­lif­ic Amer­i­can author. (Based on…)The boy with the bag》 won New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1940.Stephen W. Mead­er
bornSusan Richards SchriefAmer­i­can author. Known for his nov­el depict­ing the social dif­fi­cul­ties faced by school-aged chil­dren.Joshua T. BatesThe series is well-known.Susan Shreve