October 5: This Day in Children’s Book History

🎂 October 5, 1943 — Born: Michael Morpurgo

Famous British writer, poet and play­wrightMichael Mor­pur­goSir Michael Mor­pur­go was born in Lon­don. He is one of Britain’s most pro­lif­ic and respect­ed chil­dren’s writ­ers and a for­mer Chil­dren’s Lau­re­ate.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments: Mor­pur­go is known for his mov­ing, his­tor­i­cal, and human­i­tar­i­an nov­els, par­tic­u­lar­ly hisWar, Ani­mals, and His­to­ryCre­ate for the theme.
    • His rep­re­sen­ta­tive works includeWar Horse-War Horse), which was suc­cess­ful­ly adapt­ed into a famous stage play and movie, and won many awards.
    • Oth­er impor­tant works includeIsland King-Ken­suke’s King­dom)and“Oranges and lemons-Pri­vate Peace­ful), which obtained 2004 British Chil­dren’s Book Award.
  • con­tribute: His works present com­plex his­tor­i­cal events and pro­found moral dilem­mas in a way that chil­dren can under­stand, encour­ag­ing young read­ers to pay atten­tion to peace, the envi­ron­ment and empa­thy, mak­ing an out­stand­ing life­long con­tri­bu­tion to British chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

🎂 October 5, 1928 — Born: Louis Fitzhugh

Amer­i­can writer and illus­tra­torLouis FitzhughLouise Fitzhugh (1928–1974) was born in Mem­phis, Ten­nessee.

  • Impor­tance and Con­tri­bu­tion: She is best known for her land­mark chil­dren’s nov­elHar­ri­et the Spy-Har­ri­et the Spy, 1964) occu­pies an impor­tant posi­tion in the his­to­ry of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.Mod­ern real­is­tic nov­els for chil­drenA pio­neer, for the first timeImper­fect, unpop­u­lar, and anti-author­i­tar­i­anThe pro­tag­o­nist image of the film was brought into the chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture world.
  • Far-reach­ing impact: The pro­tag­o­nist of the sto­ry, Har­ri­et, is an 11-year-old girl who aspires to be a writer. She peeks into the lives of her neigh­bors and friends and writes down her sharp and hon­est obser­va­tions in a note­book. When the book was pub­lished, it caused con­tro­ver­sy because Har­ri­et “taught chil­dren to lie, snoop, and talk back” and was even banned. How­ev­er, its explo­ration of chil­dren’s inner world has gained wide acclaim.Hon­est por­tray­al, espe­cial­ly forLone­li­ness, Iden­ti­ty, and the Pas­sion for Writ­ingThe descrip­tion has deeply influ­enced count­less read­ers and lat­er chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writ­ers and is hailed as a clas­sic.

🎂 Octo­ber 5, 1959:David Shan­nonBorn (USA, 1959–) – David Shan­non was born in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., and grew up in Spokane, Wash­ing­ton. A writer and illus­tra­tor, he grad­u­at­ed from the Art Cen­ter Col­lege of Design in Pasade­na. His No, David! (1998) series, depict­ing the com­ing-of-age sto­ry of a mis­chie­vous boy, won the 1999 Calde­cott Medal. His auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal and humor­ous sto­ries have advanced behav­ioral edu­ca­tion and emo­tion­al expres­sion in Amer­i­can chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture. The series has sold over a mil­lion copies, been trans­lat­ed into mul­ti­ple lan­guages, adapt­ed into an ani­mat­ed series, and influ­enced anti-bul­ly­ing pro­grams in schools. David Shan­non’s oth­er works, such as Gold!, Duck on a Bike, and Oh No, I Got Stripes!, are also pop­u­lar in Chi­na.

🎂 Octo­ber 5, 1975 — Born: Amer­i­can chil­dren’s illus­tra­tor Car­son Ellis was born in Van­cou­ver, Cana­da. She is best known for her pic­ture book “Du Iz Tak?”, a com­ing-of-age sto­ry told through the lan­guage of insects. It won the 2017 Calde­cott Medal. Her work, which blends fan­ta­sy and nature, has advanced visu­al sto­ry­telling inno­va­tion in Amer­i­can chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture and has won numer­ous design awards.

🎂 Octo­ber 5, 1947 — Born: British chil­dren’s author Mal Peet was born in North Wal­sham, Nor­folk. He is best known for his young adult nov­el Tamar, which explores covert oper­a­tions dur­ing World War II and won the 2005 Carnegie Medal. His work explores war and iden­ti­ty, pro­mot­ing real­is­tic nar­ra­tive in British chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture and has won the Guardian Chil­dren’s Fic­tion Prize.

Octo­ber 5, 1983 — Born: Kore­an illus­tra­tor Yoo Joo-yeon (pre­sum­ably Kore­an: 유주연, Eng­lish: Jooyun Yoo) was born in Seoul. She is known for her pic­ture book “One Day” (어느날), which depicts every­day fan­ta­sy and won the 2011 BIB Gold­en Apple Award at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Illus­tra­tion Bien­nale. Her work, which blends East­ern aes­thet­ics and nar­ra­tive, has pro­mot­ed visu­al inno­va­tion in Kore­an chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

Octo­ber 5 — Annu­al Com­mem­o­ra­tion: Banned Books Week(Banned Books Week)It is usu­al­ly held in the first week of Octo­ber every year.Octo­ber 5Often used as its start date. The pro­mo­tion­al phrase for the event is:“Cen­sor­ship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.“The com­mem­o­ra­tion was orig­i­nal­ly launched by the Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion in 1982 in response to a sud­den surge in book chal­lenges in libraries, schools, and book­stores. The event brings togeth­er the book com­mu­ni­ty to sup­port the free­dom to read. With the dra­mat­ic rise in book ban attempts in recent years, the event has evolved into a vital plat­form to counter orga­nized cen­sor­ship cam­paigns. Key mile­stones include the ALA’s annu­al release of the “Top 10 Most Chal­lenged Books of 2024” list dur­ing Nation­al Library Week and the State of Amer­i­ca’s Libraries report, which not­ed that 721 TP3T attempts at book cen­sor­ship in 2024 orig­i­nat­ed from orga­nized groups and gov­ern­ment enti­ties (such as elect­ed offi­cials, board mem­bers, and admin­is­tra­tors). The 120 most fre­quent­ly tar­get­ed books appeared on par­ti­san book rat­ing web­sites, which pro­vide activists with tools to pro­mote library book cen­sor­ship. Despite this, the major­i­ty of chal­lenged books remain, thanks to the efforts of librar­i­ans, fac­ul­ty, stu­dents, and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers. The event also fea­tures annu­al themes and hon­orary chairs, includ­ing banned author Jason Reynolds in 2021, George M. John­son in 2022, read­ing advo­cate LeVar Bur­ton in 2023, and film direc­tor Ava DuVer­nay in 2024. ALA Pres­i­dent Cindy Hohl empha­sized that the event serves as a reminder that cen­sor­ship efforts per­sist today and that the com­mu­ni­ty must unite to defend the right to read.

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[0] Octo­ber 5 Writer Birth­days – The Petri­ni Page  

[2] Youth Lit­er­a­ture Fes­ti­val – ChambanaMoms.com  

[3] Banned Books Week | Octo­ber 5–11, 2025  

[10] Car­son Ellis Facts for Kids  

https://kids.kiddle.co/Carson_Ellis

[11] Car­son Ellis | The Wild­wood Chron­i­cles Wiki – Fan­dom  

https://the-wildwood-chronicles.fandom.com/wiki/Carson_Ellis

[12] 2017 New­bery and Calde­cott Medal Win­ners  

[13] Sev­en Ques­tions Over Break­fast with Car­son Ellis – blaine.org  

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2136  

[14] Car­son Ellis – Onward at buyolympia.com  

https://buyolympia.com/Item/carson-ellis-onward-notecard

[15] What I Learned from the 2017 Calde­cott Win­ners’ Port­land Pan­el  

[16] Port­land illus­tra­tor Car­son Ellis’ lat­est pic­ture book is a Calde­cott…  

https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2017/02/carson_ellis_caldecott.html

[17] [PDF] Calde­cott Medal & Hon­or Books, 1938 to present  

https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/alsc/content/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecott-medal-honors-to-present.pdf

[18] About David Shan­non, Author and Illus­tra­tor  

Bio

[19] David Shan­non: 20 Years of No, David! | Shelf Aware­ness  

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers/2018–08-28/david_shannon:_20_years_of_no_david_.html

[20] Shan­non, David 1959- | Encyclopedia.com  

https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/shannon-david-1959

[21] David Shan­non Facts for Kids  

https://kids.kiddle.co/David_Shannon

[22] David Goes to School – David Shan­non – Google Books  

https://books.google.mg/books?id=tNgA847HrccC&lr=&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=1

[23] David Shan­non | Author | Library­Thing  

https://www.librarything.com/author/shannondavid

[24] [PDF] David Shan­non Biog­ra­phy (PDF) – Scholas­tic  

https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/migrated-assets-not-associated-with-content/migrated-pdfs-and-other-files/david_shannon_bio_2012.pdf

[25] David Shan­non Archives – San Diego Junior The­ater  

https://juniortheatre.com/artists/david-shannon

[26] Mal Peet – Wikipedia  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal_Peet

[27] Peet, Mal (Mal­colm Peet) – Encyclopedia.com  

https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/peet-mal-malcolm-peet

[28] Mal Peet – Triv­ia, Fam­i­ly, Bio | Famous Birth­days  

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/mal-peet.html

[29] Mal Peet: Author who pro­duced his first nov­el at the age of 52 and –  

https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/mal-peet-author-who-produced-his-first-novel-at-the-age-of-52-and-became-an-awardwinning-writer-of-fiction-for-young-adults-10089289.html

[30] Carnegie Medal in Lit­er­a­ture | Rarest Kind of Best  

[31] Mal Peet Facts for Kids  

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mal_Peet

[32] Carnegie new­com­er beats vet­er­an short­list – The Guardian  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/07/carnegiemedal2005.carnegiemedal

[33] Carnegie Medal Award Win­ners – *Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Guide  

https://guides.lib.campbell.edu/childrens_literature/carnegie-medal-award-winners

[34] Carnegie Medal for Writ­ing – Wikipedia  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_for_Writing

[35] Obit­u­ary: Mal Peet – Pub­lish­ers Week­ly  

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/65773-obituary-mal-peet.html