January 1st: Today in the history of children’s books

🎂 January 1, 1935 – Birth: Eiko Kadono

Famous Japan­ese chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture authorEiko KadonoBorn. She is hailed as the “witch” of Japan­ese chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

• High­est Hon­or: At 2018 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) Writer AwardShe is the third Japan­ese writer to receive this hon­or, fol­low­ing Michio Mado and Nahoko Uehashi.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: “Kik­i’s Deliv­ery Ser­vice”（Kik­i’s Deliv­ery Ser­viceThis work tells the com­ing-of-age sto­ry of the lit­tle witch Kiki who leaves her par­ents to train on her own. It was not only adapt­ed into a glob­al­ly pop­u­lar ani­mat­ed film by Hayao Miyaza­ki, but the orig­i­nal nov­el itself also touched count­less read­ers with its warm and inde­pen­dent writ­ing style.
• style: Her works often incor­po­rate fan­ta­sy ele­ments into dai­ly life, encour­ag­ing chil­dren to have a free spir­it and an inde­pen­dent per­son­al­i­ty.

---

🎂 January 1, 1919 – Birth: JD Salinger

Amer­i­can writ­ersJD SalingerBorn (1919–2010).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• His only nov­el, *The Catch­er in the Rye*（The Catch­er in the RyeAlthough ini­tial­ly pub­lished in 1951 for adult read­ers, it quick­ly became a best­seller due to its pro­found depic­tion of ado­les­cent anx­i­ety, rebel­lion, and alien­ation.The cor­ner­stone and essen­tial clas­sic of young adult lit­er­a­ture.
• Influ­ence: The book’s pro­tag­o­nist, Hold­en Caulfield, became a time­less sym­bol of resis­tance against the hypocrisy of the adult world. It is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up.”

---

🎂 January 1, 1892 – Birth: A. Chazelle

French illus­tra­torHaz­ard ShazelAlbert Chazelle (1892–1980) was born.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• He is a pro­lif­ic illus­tra­tor for the famous French “Green Library” (Bib­lio­thèque verte) series.
• He wrote the clas­sic detec­tive series **“Six Boys’ Mys­ter­ies”** by Paul-Jacques Bon­zon.Les Six Com­pagnonsThe book series, also known as “The Six Friends,” fea­tures illus­tra­tions by [illus­tra­tor’s name]. This series is a child­hood mem­o­ry for gen­er­a­tions of French peo­ple, telling the adven­ture sto­ries of six boys from the Croy­rouse region of Lyon, and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

---

🎂 January 1, 1952 – Born: Vera Pavlova

Russ­ian illus­tra­torVera Pavlo­vaborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• She relied on her work “Clock­wise: The Mag­ic of Rus­sia-Posoloň: volšeb­na­ja Rossi­ja(Author: A. Rem­i­zov) won the award Plaque Award, 2001 Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB)Her illus­tra­tions often fea­ture strong Russ­ian folk art char­ac­ter­is­tics and dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments.

---

⚰️ January 1, 2021 — Passed away: Raymond Bial

Amer­i­can writer and pho­tog­ra­ph­erRay­mond BialHe passed away in 1948–2021.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• He authored over a hun­dred chil­dren’s books, espe­cial­ly…Pho­to­graph­ic non­fic­tion works(Pho­to-essays) are their spe­cial­ty.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《A hand­ful of soil-A Hand­ful of DirtThrough enlarged pho­tographs and vivid text, it shows chil­dren the rich micro­scop­ic world and ecosys­tems in the soil, mak­ing it an excel­lent pop­u­lar sci­ence book.

---

🔗 Key reference links

Event Type	Char­ac­ter Name	Main ref­er­ence links
born	Eiko Kadono	Eiko Kadono (Wikipedia)
born	JD Salinger	JD Salinger (Wikipedia)
born	A. Chazelle	Albert Chazelle (French Wikipedia)
Death	Ray­mond Bial	Ray­mond Bial (Illi­nois Authors)