🎂 1880 – Born: Ruth Sawyer
American children’s literature author and folk tale storyteller (1880–1970). She was an important founder of early oral narrative and realistic coming-of-age novels for children in the United States, and was good at integrating sincere life observations and folk storytelling art into children’s creations.
- Supreme Honors and Representative Works:
- Lucinda, the Roller Skating Girl (Roller Skates(Illustration by Valenti Angelo, 1936) — Awarded The 1937 Newbery MedalThe story takes place in 1890s New York City. Ten-year-old Lucinda lives with her two gentle aunts while her parents travel to Europe for a year. Free and adrift on the streets of New York, Lucinda meets an Italian fruit vendor, an Irish police officer, a Jewish girl, and a poor violinist, experiencing the city’s human relationships and the pain of life and death with innocence and kindness.
- Awarded by the American Library Association in 1965 The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now the Children’s Literature Heritage Award CLLA) Lifetime Achievement Award.
| Birth | Ruth Sawyer | Ruth Sawyer (Wikipedia) |
🎂 Born 1952: John A. Rowe
British children’s picture book illustrator (1952). His illustration style is highly recognizable, and he is adept at using thick oil paint textures, surrealist shapes, and dramatic, humorous dark colors.
- Top international awards and representative works:
- With two works, “Crow Baby” (Raben-Baby) and The Origin of the Armadillo (Die Entstehung der Gürteltiere(Adapted from Kipling’s fairy tales) also won amazing awards Grand Prix at the 1995 Bratislava International Biennial of Illustrations (BIB)He also won the BIB Golden Apple Award for “Why Kangaroos Have Two Long Legs”.
- Kingdom of Bad Temper (Smile— It tells the story of a kingdom that was once full of laughter, but one day the king lost his smile and became irritable. In the end, he regained warmth through the sincere smile of a little boy.
- I Want a Hug (I want a hug— This is a humorous and heartwarming story about Elvis, a hedgehog covered in sharp quills, who is afraid of being pricked and therefore cannot get a hug, until he meets an alligator who also longs for a hug.
- His representative works also include “Moon Dog” (Moondog).
| Birth | John A. Rowe | John A. Rowe (BIBIANA) |
🎂 1889 – Born: Maud Petersham
American children’s picture book author and illustrator (1889–1971). She and her husband, Miska Petersham, were one of the most influential picture book creation duos in the United States during the 1930s and 40s, and their works were characterized by elegant hand-lithographic colors and a retro style.
- Top Award and Representative Works:
- The Rooster Crows (The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles(1945) — Awarded 1946 Caldecott MedalThis book collects and illustrates traditional nursery rhymes, counting songs, game rhymes, and folk sayings passed down through generations across the United States, vividly depicting the rural farm and childhood games.
- The American Alphabet (An American ABC(1941) — Awarded 1942 Caldecott HonorA picture book that uses the 26 letters of the alphabet to explore historical figures, geography, and pioneering spirit across the United States.
| Birth | Maud Petersham | Maud Petersham (Wikipedia) |
🎂 1909 – Born: Pierre Belvès
French painter, children’s picture book illustrator, and art educator (1909–1994). He was one of the core illustrators of the classic 20th-century French children’s book series “Pere Castor” and dedicated himself to children’s art education and enlightenment for many years.
- Representative works and content:
- The Pie Escapes (Roule Galette…(1950, by Paul Sabon/Natha Caputo) — Listed in “1001 Children’s Books,” this is a national treasure of French picture books. Adapted from the traditional folktale “The Cake in the Dish,” the story tells of a small butter pie left to cool on a windowsill that slips off and runs along a path, dodging rabbits, wolves, and bears, rolling forward singing a cheerful song, only to be caught off guard by a cunning fox in a hilarious tale.
| Birth | Pierre Belvès | Pierre Belvès (Wikipedia) |
🎂 1960 – Born: Charlotte Mollet
French painter, woodcut artist, and children’s book creator (1960). She was adept at using hand-cut woodcuts with a strong sense of primal power and contrasting colors to reshape fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
- Top Award and Representative Works:
- A Green Mouse (Une souris verte(1993) — Award 1994 Prix Sorcières, the highest prize for illustrated books in FranceThis work reinterprets the well-known French traditional nursery rhyme of the same name through extremely rough, glossy, and colorful hard-core prints, giving the nursery rhyme for young children a very high visual quality.
| Birth | Charlotte Mollet | Charlotte Mollet (Wikipedia) |
⚰️ 2021 — Passed away: Eloise Greenfield
African American children’s literature author and poet (1929–2021). She dedicated her life to creating poetry and children’s novels that depicted the real lives of African American children, family love, and cultural dignity, and was awarded the Coretta Scott King Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Representative works and content:
- Poetry Collection “My Dear, I Love You” (Honey, I Love and Other Poems(1978, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon) — Contains 16 rhythmic and heartwarming children’s poems, depicting a genuine love for music, friends, family, and one’s own life from a clear child’s perspective.
| Deceased | Eloise Greenfield | Eloise Greenfield (Wikipedia) |