Bridge of Ajia

September 12: Today in the history of children’s books

author:

Ajia

exist

⚰️ 1974 – Death: Miriam Young

Amer­i­can chil­dren’s author and nov­el­ist (1913–1974). Born into a Broad­way the­atri­cal fam­i­ly, she was skilled at con­struct­ing sto­ries with dra­mat­ic, tight­ly plot­ted nar­ra­tives, del­i­cate and heart­warm­ing anthro­po­mor­phic per­spec­tives of small ani­mals, and a deep sense of pro­tec­tive­ness towards home.

  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works and con­tent passed down through gen­er­a­tions:
  • Miss Susie (Miss Suzy(1964, illus­trat­ed by Arnold Lobel) — A beloved and heart­warm­ing clas­sic ani­mal pic­ture book in the Unit­ed States. The sto­ry tells of Susie, a gen­tle and hard­work­ing lit­tle gray squir­rel who has trans­formed her tree­house at the top of an old oak tree into a neat and com­fort­able home. A group of fierce and noisy red squir­rels take over her tree­house, forc­ing the home­less Susie to seek refuge in a beau­ti­ful­ly dec­o­rat­ed doll­house aban­doned in the attic. There, she lov­ing­ly cares for a band of for­got­ten toy sol­diers. Upon learn­ing of Susie’s plight, the brave and loy­al toy sol­diers march for­ward, using acorn bombs to dri­ve away the bul­ly­ing red squir­rels and help Susie reclaim her home. Arnold Lobel’s exquis­ite and warm col­ored pen­cil illus­tra­tions per­fect­ly com­ple­ment Miri­am Young’s reas­sur­ing text.
  • His notable works also include the clas­sic sequel to the role, *Miss Susie’s East­er Sur­prise*.Miss Suzy’s East­er Sur­prise(Illus­trat­ed by Arnold Lobel)

| Passed Away | Miri­am Young | Miri­am Young (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ 2002 – Passed away: Pat Marriott

A renowned British book illus­tra­tor and print­mak­er (1920–2002). She was a low-key mas­ter of British illus­tra­tion in the sec­ond half of the 20th cen­tu­ry, known for her extreme­ly refined, pow­er­ful, expres­sive, and whim­si­cal pen lines. She was the visu­al design­er for clas­sic adven­ture and poet­ry nov­els by authors such as Joan Aiken for many years.

  • Select­ed as rep­re­sen­ta­tive works in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”:
  • Figie Hob­ing (Fig­gie Hob­bin: Poems for Chil­dren(1970, poem by Charles Caus­ley) — includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*. Mar­riott illus­trat­ed this mas­ter­piece of chil­dren’s poet­ry by the renowned British Poet Lau­re­ate Charles Caus­ley with unfor­get­table black-and-white pen illus­tra­tions. With rhyth­mic lines, she depicts the coastal cliffs of Corn­wall, vagrants, kings, and strange ghosts, bring­ing the poem’s vast, ancient folk rhythms to life in a vibrant visu­al tapes­try.
  • His notable achieve­ments in illus­tra­tion also include his work on Joan Aiken’s mas­ter­piece, *The Wolf Fight at Willough­by Cas­tle*.The Wolves of Willough­by ChaseThe first edi­tion’s clas­sic inte­ri­or illus­tra­tions were drawn by [author’s name].

| Passed Away | Pat Mar­riott | Pat Mar­riott (Wiki­da­ta) |

🎂 Born 1979: Ann Cathrin Raab

A renowned con­tem­po­rary Ger­man chil­dren’s pic­ture book author and illus­tra­tor (1979). She grad­u­at­ed from the Ham­burg Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sci­ences with a degree in illus­tra­tion. Her style is full of mod­ern micro-humor, rough and sim­ple lines, and unique ani­mal triv­ia.

  • Inter­na­tion­al Awards and Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Works:
  • With her self-writ­ten and illus­trat­ed pic­ture book, *The Whis­per of the Tick*Zeck­enge­flüsterAward­ed in 2008 Plaque Award, 2009 Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion (BIB)It breaks down peo­ple’s pre­con­ceived notions about micro­scop­ic par­a­sitic insects with an extreme­ly humor­ous and inter­est­ing per­spec­tive, show­cas­ing the cut­ting-edge exper­i­men­tal style of con­tem­po­rary Ger­man pic­ture books.

| Birth | Ann Cathrin Raab | Ann Cathrin Raab (Wikipedia) |

More Articles