Bridge of Ajia

May 13: Today in Children’s Book History

author:

Ajia

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🎂 Born in 1949: Hideko Ise

She is a renowned Japan­ese painter, pic­ture book author, and essay­ist. She is known for her extreme­ly del­i­cate and trans­par­ent water­col­or style, and her works often car­ry a pro­found poet­ic qual­i­ty and a rev­er­ence for life and nature.

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Uncle Luliyu (Sophie et le Relieur): This book tells the sto­ry of a book­binder and a lit­tle girl, and won the Kodan­sha Pub­lish­ing Cul­ture Award for Pic­ture Books.
  • A 1000-cel­lo Ensem­ble (1000 vents, 1000 vio­lon­celles(This is a true per­for­mance inspired by the Great Han­shin Earth­quake, and the visu­als are filled with music and heal­ing pow­er.)
  • The First Ques­tionCol­lab­o­rat­ing with renowned poet Hiroshi Naga­ta, he uses his paint­brush to touch upon the essence of life.
  • Artis­tic fea­tures: Eiko Ise is also a cel­list. Her lines are as rhyth­mic as music, and she is espe­cial­ly good at depict­ing “trees”. The forests in her paint­ings seem to have a breath.

| Birth | Eiko Ise | Hideko Ise (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ 2016 – Passed away: Makiko Futaki

She was a renowned Japan­ese ani­ma­tor and illus­tra­tor (1958–2016). She was a core ani­ma­tor at Stu­dio Ghi­b­li and one of Hayao Miyaza­k­i’s most impor­tant right-hand women.

  • Ani­ma­tion con­tri­bu­tion: She par­tic­i­pat­ed in all of Stu­dio Ghi­b­li’s clas­sic works, includ­ing “Cas­tle in the Sky,” “My Neigh­bor Totoro,” and “Princess Mononoke.” She was extreme­ly skilled at depict­ing “del­i­cate ani­mal and plant move­ments” and “flow­ing wind.”
  • Chil­dren’s book achieve­ments:
  • Illus­tra­tions for “Guardian of the Spir­its“She illus­trat­ed the cov­er and inte­ri­or pages of Naoko Uehashi’s long fan­ta­sy mas­ter­piece, and her pre­cise and mys­te­ri­ous style gave the work a unique visu­al soul.
  • Lit­tle Piskey’s First Trip、Piskey’s First FriendThis shows her fresh and gen­tle side as a pic­ture book author.

| Passed Away | Makiko Futa­ki | Makiko Futa­ki (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born 1949: Eva Eriksson

One of Swe­den’s most icon­ic con­tem­po­rary illus­tra­tors. Her art­work defined the visu­al expe­ri­ence of count­less Swedish chil­dren’s child­hoods.

  • Key Achieve­ments: With theMom and Wild Baby-Mam­man och den vil­da Bebin) won 1981 BIB Plaque.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: The “Wild Lit­tle Baby” series and the “Lit­tle Bun­ny” series, both col­lab­o­ra­tions with Pablo Lind­gren.
  • Artis­tic fea­tures: Eriks­son excels at cap­tur­ing the sub­tle emo­tion­al fluc­tu­a­tions of young chil­dren with soft tones and expres­sive lines; her sig­na­ture is a warmth imbued with Nordic dry humor.

| Birth | Eva Eriks­son | Eva Eriks­son (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ 1994 – Death: Ádám Würtz

A renowned Hun­gar­i­an graph­ic artist and illus­tra­tor (1927–1994).

  • Key Achieve­ments: With the work “Mimosa pudi­ca-Mimóza) won 1971 BIB Plaque.
  • Artis­tic Sta­tus: Wirz’s style is deeply influ­enced by Hun­gar­i­an folk art. He is adept at com­bin­ing tra­di­tion­al dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments with mod­ern print­mak­ing tech­niques and holds an impor­tant posi­tion in the East­ern Euro­pean illus­tra­tion world.

| Died | Adam Wirtz | Ádám Würtz (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born in 1935: Taku Miki

A renowned Japan­ese poet, nov­el­ist, and trans­la­tor (1935–2023).

  • Con­tri­bu­tion to chil­dren’s books:
  • As a trans­la­tor, he trans­lat­ed the clas­sic “The Wind in the Wil­lows”.
  • As the orig­i­nal author of the pic­ture book, he cre­at­ed “The land­lord is a cat-おおやさんはねこ(1982) and ThePic­ture Book: Waltz with the White Dog-絵本白い狗とワルツをHis works include [list of works]. His writ­ing pos­sess­es the refine­ment of a poet and a deep affec­tion for ani­mals.

| Birth | Miki Taku | Taku Miki (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born 1929: Juan Muñoz Martín

A nation­al-lev­el chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture author in Spain (1929–2023).

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Frye Per­ic and His Don­key (Fray Peri­co y su bor­ri­coThis work is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.
  • sta­tus: He is one of the most pop­u­lar humor­ous chil­dren’s book authors in Spain, and the kind, sil­ly and fun­ny monk he cre­at­ed has become a clas­sic sym­bol in the read­ing mem­o­ries of gen­er­a­tions of Span­ish chil­dren.

| Birth | Juan Muñoz Martín | Juan Muñoz Martín (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ 1885 – Death: Juliana Horatia Ewing

A famous British chil­dren’s author dur­ing the Vic­to­ri­an era (1841–1885).

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《Jack­anapes, Dad­dy Dar­win’s Dove­cot, and Oth­er Sto­ries》.
  • Lit­er­ary sta­tus: In the 19th cen­tu­ry, when chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture was not yet ful­ly devel­oped, Ewing was one of the very few writ­ers who seri­ous­ly regard­ed chil­dren as indi­vid­u­als with com­plex emo­tions. Her sto­ries are full of com­pas­sion and offer extreme­ly vivid por­tray­als of mil­i­tary life and rur­al dai­ly life at the time.

| Died | Juliana Hor­a­tia Ewing | Juliana Hor­a­tia Ewing (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ 2010 — Passed away: Ruth Chew

Amer­i­can chil­dren’s book author and illus­tra­tor (1920–2010).

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: The Witch of Wednes­day (The Wednes­day Witch)。
  • Cre­ative style: Ruth Chu was very good at writ­ing “light fan­ta­sy” sto­ries for chap­ter book read­ers. Her works were usu­al­ly set in ordi­nary dai­ly life, with witch­es, mag­ic brooms or mag­i­cal coins sud­den­ly appear­ing, which was very pop­u­lar with chil­dren from the 70s to the 90s.

| Deceased | Ruth Church | Ruth Chew (Wikipedia) |

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