Bridge of Ajia

August 24: Today in the History of Children’s Books

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⚰️ 1923 – Death: Kate Douglas Wiggin

Amer­i­can chil­dren’s author and ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion pio­neer (1856–1923). She was the founder of the first free pub­lic kinder­garten on the West Coast of the Unit­ed States. Her lit­er­ary works are known for their vibrant young girl char­ac­ters, bright and humor­ous style, and cel­e­bra­tion of wom­en’s inde­pen­dence and self-respect.

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and con­tent passed down through gen­er­a­tions:
  • Rebec­ca of Sun­brook Farm (Rebec­ca of Sun­ny­brook FarmRebec­ca from Sun­ny Farm (1903) — Select­ed as one of the “1001 Chil­dren’s Books,” a clas­sic com­ing-of-age sto­ry known through­out the Unit­ed States. It tells the sto­ry of Lisa, a live­ly, imag­i­na­tive, and poet­ic 10-year-old girl who leaves her impov­er­ished extend­ed fam­i­ly to live with her two strict and old-fash­ioned aunts. Lisa grad­u­al­ly melts the ice in her aunts’ hearts with her opti­mism and enthu­si­asm, becom­ing inde­pen­dent and self-reliant in her stud­ies and life, ulti­mate­ly grow­ing into a respon­si­ble young woman. Mark Twain praised it as “one of the sweet­est and most touch­ing com­ing-of-age sto­ries in Amer­i­ca.”

| Passed Away | Kate Dou­glas Wig­gin | Kate Dou­glas Wig­gin (Wikipedia) |

🎂 1917 – Born: Ruth Park

A renowned Aus­tralian nov­el­ist and chil­dren’s author of New Zealand descent (1917–2010). She was adept at com­bin­ing the his­tor­i­cal geog­ra­phy and every­day life of Syd­ney’s old town with cap­ti­vat­ing time-trav­el nar­ra­tives.

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and con­tent:
  • Play­ing Bet­ty Bowl (Play­ing Beat­ie Bow(1980) — Select­ed for “1001 Chil­dren’s Books” and won the Aus­tralian Chil­dren’s Book Coun­cil (CBCA) Book of the Year Award. The sto­ry tells of 14-year-old mod­ern girl Abi­gail who, while watch­ing a lit­tle girl play­ing an old game of hide-and-seek called “Bet­ty Bow” in Syd­ney’s his­toric Rocks dis­trict, is unex­pect­ed­ly trans­port­ed back to a Vic­to­ri­an-era Syd­ney slum in 1873. After expe­ri­enc­ing a series of his­tor­i­cal upheavals and fam­i­ly entan­gle­ments, Abi­gail comes to under­stand the resilience of her ances­tors and returns to the mod­ern world with a new under­stand­ing of life.

| Birth | Ruth Park | Ruth Park (Wikipedia) |

🎂 1917 – Born: Charles Causley

A renowned British poet and chil­dren’s author (1917–2003). His work was root­ed in the folk tra­di­tions of Corn­wall, Eng­land, and he was adept at blend­ing ancient bal­lad forms, sea leg­ends, and humor­ous, live­ly mod­ern chil­dren’s rhymes.

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and con­tent:
  • Figie Hob­ing (Fig­gie Hob­bin: Poems for Chil­dren(1970) — Select­ed for “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”. A clas­sic col­lec­tion of chil­dren’s poems with great musi­cal­i­ty and the pow­er of folk oral sto­ry­telling, it depicts min­ers, kings, sailors, ghosts and every­day life in Corn­wall with an infec­tious rhythm, and is rec­og­nized as an impor­tant mile­stone in 20th-cen­tu­ry British chil­dren’s poet­ry.

| Birth | Charles Caus­ley | Charles Caus­ley (Wikipedia) |

🎂 1877 – Born: Sarah Lindsay Schmidt

Amer­i­can chil­dren’s real­ist and his­tor­i­cal nov­el­ist and edu­ca­tor (1877–1965).

  • Top Award and Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Works:
  • “New World” (New Land(1933) — Award­ed New­bery Hon­or, 1934The sto­ry takes place in the arid waste­land of Wyoming and tells the inspi­ra­tional and real­is­tic com­ing-of-age epic of a young twin broth­er and sis­ter who fol­low their father to the West to estab­lish a new farm. Fac­ing harsh cli­mate, out­dat­ed agri­cul­tur­al ideas and water resource dis­putes, the sib­lings use mod­ern agri­cul­tur­al sci­ence and their per­se­ver­ance to even­tu­al­ly turn the waste­land into an oasis.

| Birth | Sarah Lind­say Schmidt | Sarah Lind­say Schmidt (Wikipedia) |

🎂 1921 – Born: Alberto Longoni

Ital­ian painter, print­mak­er, and illus­tra­tor (1921–1991). He was skilled at using dense, fine, and dynam­ic pen lines and geo­met­ric com­po­si­tions, and his paint­ings have a dis­tinc­tive mod­ernist and absur­dist humor style.

  • Inter­na­tion­al Awards and Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Works:
  • With the pic­ture book “Octo­pus and Pirates“Il polipo ei piratiThe visu­al­ly strik­ing black and white line draw­ings and dynam­ic com­po­si­tion won the award. Plaque Award, 1975 Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB).

| Birth | Alber­to Lon­go­ni | Alber­to Lon­go­ni (Wikipedia) |

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