January 9th: Today in the history of children’s books

🎂 January 9, 1954 – Born: Cao Wenxuan

A renowned con­tem­po­rary Chi­nese chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writerCao Wenx­u­anBorn. He is one of the lead­ing fig­ures in Chi­nese chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, known for his “pure and beau­ti­ful” lit­er­ary ideals.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 2016 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ersHe is the first Chi­nese writer to receive this award.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Grass House（The Grass House(This is a nov­el): It depicts the six years of pri­ma­ry school life of a boy named Sang Sang at Youmai­di Pri­ma­ry School. It is not only a clas­sic of con­tem­po­rary Chi­nese chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, but was also adapt­ed into a film of the same name.
• Bronze Sun­flower（Bronze and Sun­flower(This is a sto­ry about the touch­ing sib­ling rela­tion­ship between Qing Tong, a mute boy from the coun­try­side, and Kui Hua, an orphan girl from the city.)
• Goats Don’t Eat Heav­en­ly GrassThis study explores the sur­vival and men­tal predica­ments of young migrant work­ers in cities.

| born | Cao Wenx­u­an | Cao Wenx­u­an (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 9, 1955 – Born: Jutta Bauer

Ger­man illus­tra­tor and writerYuta BauerBirth. Her paint­ing style is sim­ple, humor­ous, and philo­soph­i­cal, and she is adept at con­vey­ing pro­found emo­tions with just a few strokes.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 2010 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tion.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Loud-Voiced Mom（Schreimut­ter(This is a sto­ry told in a min­i­mal­ist fable form, about a pen­guin moth­er who “shat­tered” her chicks by yelling, and how they were grad­u­al­ly pieced back togeth­er, pro­found­ly heal­ing count­less trau­mas in par­ent-child rela­tion­ships.)
• The Mag­i­cal Queen of Col­ors（Die Köni­gin der Far­ben) and Grand­pa’s Angel.

| born Jut­ta Bauer | Jut­ta Bauer (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 9, 1908 – Death: William Busch

Ger­man painter, poet, and satiristHein­rich Chris­t­ian Wil­helm BushHe died in 1832–1908. He is wide­ly rec­og­nized as…The prog­en­i­tor of mod­ern com­ic strips.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Two Mis­chie­vous Kids: Mat­tis and Moritz（Max und Moritz(1865): This rhyming pic­ture book about two mis­chie­vous boys play­ing pranks is not only a house­hold name in Ger­man-speak­ing coun­tries, but also the direct inspi­ra­tion for the lat­er clas­sic Amer­i­can com­ic book, The Katzen­jam­mer Kids. The book is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death | William Busch | Wil­helm Busch (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 9, 1940 – Birth: Seizo Tashima & Yukihiko Tajima

famous in JapanTwin pic­ture book authorsSeizo Taji­ma and Masahiko Taji­ma were born on the same day. Both are heavy­weights in the Japan­ese pic­ture book world, and although their styles dif­fer, both are full of vital­i­ty.

• Seizo Tashima:
• BIB Gold­en Apple Award: 1969 With theRik­i­taro-Taro the Pow­er­fulAward­ed.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《Fly, grasshop­per!-Tobe Bat­ta(The paint­ing) depicts the pulse of life with bold and pow­er­ful strokes.
• Yuk­i­hiko Taji­ma:
• BIB Awards: 1977 With theGion Fes­ti­val》Received the Badge Award;1987 With theThe cat­fish that ascend­ed to heav­enIt won the Badge Award again.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: “Incred­i­ble Friends”. He is skilled at using dye­ing tech­niques (sten­cil dye­ing) to cre­ate pic­ture books, which have a strong sense of tra­di­tion­al crafts­man­ship.

| born | Seizo Taji­ma & Masahiko Taji­ma | Seizo Tashima (Google Search) |

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🎂 January 9, 1900 – Birth: Eve Garnett

British writer and illus­tra­torEve Gar­nettBorn (1900–1991).

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Carnegie Medal: Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work isA large fam­i­ly on the small street-The Fam­i­ly from One End Street(Pub­lished in 1937) won awards 1937 Carnegie Medal.
• His­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: This book is the first in the his­to­ry of British chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture to depict real­i­ty in a pos­i­tive light.Work­ing-class fam­i­ly lifeHis chil­dren’s nov­els broke with the then-pre­vail­ing tra­di­tion of fea­tur­ing mid­dle-class pro­tag­o­nists, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone.

| born | Eve Gar­nett | Eve Gar­nett (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 9, 1851 – Birth: Luis Coloma

Span­ish writerLouis Colo­maBorn (1851–1915).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Perez the Mouse（Ratón PérezHe cre­at­ed this sto­ry for the young King Alfon­so XIII of Spain. In the sto­ry, the mouse Perez steals chil­dren’s teeth with coins when they fall out. This char­ac­ter became the “Tooth Fairy” in Span­ish-speak­ing coun­tries, a well-known cul­tur­al sym­bol, and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Luis Colo­ma | Luis Colo­ma (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 9, 1906 – Birth: Karl Bruckner

Aus­tri­an writerKarl Brück­n­erBorn (1906–1982).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• “Zhen­zi Wants to Live”（Sadako Will Leben / The Day of the Bomb(1961): This book intro­duced the sto­ry of Sadako Sasa­ki, a girl from Hiroshi­ma, who fold­ed a thou­sand paper cranes to pray for peace to the West­ern world, and had a huge impact on anti-war and peace edu­ca­tion world­wide. The book won the Aus­tri­an Nation­al Prize and received high praise from the Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award com­mit­tee.

| born Karl Bruck­n­er Karl Bruck­n­er (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 9, 1938 – Death: Johnny Gruelle

Amer­i­can artist and writerJohn­ny GroelHe died (1880–1938). (Note: He was born on Decem­ber 24).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• He is the famous doll char­ac­ter **Anne the Rag­doll** (Raggedy AnnHe is the cre­ator of the sto­ries of Andy and his broth­er Raggedy Andy. These sto­ries were orig­i­nal­ly told to com­fort his sick daugh­ter and lat­er became a time­less sym­bol of love and kind­ness in Amer­i­can pop­u­lar cul­ture.

| Death | John­ny Gru­elle | John­ny Gru­elle (Wikipedia) |