December 9th: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 December 9, 1899 – Birth: Jean de Brunove

French writer and illus­tra­torJean de BrunoveJean de Brun­hoff (1899–1937) was born. He was the cre­ator of the world-famous Babar series.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work isBaba the ele­phant-His­toire de Babar(Pub­lished in 1931) was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed based on bed­time sto­ries his wife told to the chil­dren.
• Influ­ence: This well-man­nered lit­tle ele­phant, dressed in a suit, dri­ving a car, has become a glob­al sen­sa­tion, ush­er­ing in the era of large-for­mat pic­ture books and is con­sid­ered…The foun­da­tion­al work of mod­ern pic­ture booksIt is one of the books in the series “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born Jean de Brun­hoff | Jean de Brun­hoff (Wikipedia) |

---

🎂 December 9, 1848 – Birth: Joel Chandler Harris

Amer­i­can jour­nal­ist and folk­loristJoel Chan­dler Har­ris(Joel Chan­dler Har­ris, 1848–1908) was born.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • His most famous achieve­ment was col­lect­ing and com­pil­ing African Amer­i­can folk tales from the Amer­i­can South, cre­at­ing the book “The Sto­ry of the Amer­i­can South”.Uncle Remus tells sto­ries-Uncle Remus Sto­ries(1881). The most clas­sic char­ac­ter is **Brer Rab­bit**.
• eval­u­ate: These sto­ries, known for their unique dialect nar­ra­tion and wit­ty ani­mal char­ac­ters, are includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*. In Chi­na, the best trans­la­tion is wide­ly con­sid­ered to be…Ren Ron­grongMr. [Name]‘s trans­la­tion.

| born Joel Chan­dler Har­ris | Joel Chan­dler Har­ris (Wikipedia) |

---

🎂 December 9, 1928 – Birth: Joan W. Bros

Amer­i­can writ­ersJoan W. Bros(Joan Blos, 1928–2017) was born.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Medal: Her his­tor­i­cal nov­elA Diary That Nev­er Grows Old-A Gath­er­ing of Days: A New Eng­land Girl’s Jour­nal, 1830–32(Pub­lished in 1979) won an award 1980 New­bery Medal.
• con­tribute: The nov­el, writ­ten in diary form, metic­u­lous­ly records the life, strug­gles, and growth of a 13-year-old girl in ear­ly 19th-cen­tu­ry New Hamp­shire, and is con­sid­ered a mas­ter­piece of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion.

| born | Joan W. Blos | Joan Blos (Wikipedia) |

---

🎂 December 9, 1915 – Birth: Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Amer­i­can writ­ersEloise Jarvis McGrawEloise Jarvis McGraw (1915–2000) was born. She was an extreme­ly tal­ent­ed…His­tor­i­cal and fan­ta­sy themesHe is an author who has received the New­bery Medal three times over a span of more than forty years.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Three-time New­bery Hon­or:
    • 《Mocasin Trail-Moc­casin Trail(1952): A sto­ry of explo­ration in the Amer­i­can West.
    • 《gold gob­let-The Gold­en Gob­let(1961): A sus­pense­ful adven­ture sto­ry set in ancient Egypt.
    • 《Son of Moore-The Moorchild(1996): A fan­ta­sy nov­el that incor­po­rates folk tales.

| born Eloise Jarvis McGraw | Eloise Jarvis McGraw (Wikipedia) |

---

⚰️ December 9, 1959 – Died: Kurt Herder

Ger­man-born Swiss writerKurt Herder(Kurt Held, for­mer­ly known as Kurt Kläber, 1897–1959) passed away.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • He is famousAnti-fas­cist chil­dren’s lit­er­a­tureAuthor, rep­re­sen­ta­tive work:Red-haired Zola-Die rote Zora und ihre BandeIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books” and tells the sto­ry of a group of orphans strug­gling to sur­vive on the mar­gins of soci­ety, empha­siz­ing uni­ty and jus­tice.
  • In addi­tion, he also par­tic­i­pat­ed in his wife Lisa Tet­zn­er’s famous work, “…“The child from room 67-Die Kinder aus Nr. 67) cre­ative and illus­tra­tion work.

| Death Kurt Held | Kurt Held (Wikipedia) |