Bridge of Ajia

January 13: Today in the History of Children’s Books

author:

Ajia

exist

🎂 January 13, 1926 – Birth: Michael Bond

British writerMichael BondMichael Bond (1926–2017) was born. He cre­at­ed one of the world’s most famous bears—Padding­ton Bear.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Padding­ton Bear（A Bear Called Padding­ton(1958): The sto­ry was inspired by a lone­ly ted­dy bear that Bond saw on Christ­mas Eve. This lit­tle bear from the “Black Coun­try of Peru,” wear­ing a duf­fle coat, an old hat, and lov­ing mar­malade, became a sym­bol of British cul­ture.
  • Influ­ence: The series has sold over 35 mil­lion copies, been trans­lat­ed into more than 40 lan­guages, and has been adapt­ed into ani­ma­tion and film mul­ti­ple times. It is also includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born Michael Bond Michael Bond (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 13, 1922 – Birth: Albert La Maurizio

French film direc­tor and writerAlbert La Mau­r­izioAlbert Lam­or­isse (1922–1970) was born.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Red Bal­loon（The Red Bal­loon / Le Bal­lon rouge(1956): This was orig­i­nal­ly a short film he direct­ed (which won the Acad­e­my Award for Best Orig­i­nal Screen­play and the Palme d’Or at Cannes), and was lat­er adapt­ed into a pic­ture book of the same name.
  • con­tent: The sto­ry tells of a pure yet melan­cholic friend­ship between a young boy in Paris and a seem­ing­ly sen­tient red bal­loon. The book uses stills from the film as illus­tra­tions, mak­ing it a clas­sic exam­ple of the fusion of film and lit­er­a­ture.

| born Albert Lam­or­isse | Albert Lam­or­isse (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 13, 2002 — Passed away José Maria Sánchez-Silva

Span­ish writerJosé Maria Sánchez-Sil­va(José María Sánchez-Sil­va, 1911–2002) died.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: He had 1966 getHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) Writer AwardHigh­ly Com­mend­ed.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Marceli­no: Bread and Wine（Marceli­no pan y vinoThis is a deeply mov­ing reli­gious fairy tale that tells the sto­ry of Marceli­no, an orphan adopt­ed by a monastery, who speaks with the stat­ue of Jesus in the attic and shares bread and wine with it. The book has been trans­lat­ed into many lan­guages and adapt­ed into a famous film.

| Death José María Sánchez-Sil­va | José María Sánchez-Sil­va (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 13, 1978 – Died: Thibaut Gergely

Hun­gar­i­an-Amer­i­can illus­tra­torThibaut Gerge­lyTibor Gerge­ly (1900–1978) has passed away. He was a pro­lif­ic illus­tra­tor for the famous chil­dren’s book brand “Lit­tle Gold­en Books”.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Hon­or: He relied on his work “Wheels on the chim­ney-Wheel on the Chim­ney(Author: Mar­garet Wise Brown, pub­lished in 1954) won [award name miss­ing] 1955 Calde­cott Hon­or.
  • oth­er: He also illus­trat­ed clas­sic Amer­i­can chil­dren’s books such as “Scuffy the Tug­boat”.

| Death Tibor Gerge­ly | Tibor Gerge­ly (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 13, 1943 – Died: Els Yuri

Ger­man Jew­ish writerEls Yuri(Else Ury, 1877–1943) died. She trag­i­cal­ly died in Auschwitz con­cen­tra­tion camp dur­ing World War II.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Lit­tle Daugh­ter and Her Toy Dolls（Nesthäkchen und ihre Pup­penThis is her famousNesthäkchenThe first book in the series (mean­ing the youngest child/darling of the fam­i­ly). This series depicts the com­ing-of-age sto­ry of Anna­mary, the youngest daugh­ter of a doc­tor in Berlin. It is one of the most pop­u­lar clas­sic chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture dur­ing the Weimar Repub­lic and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death Else Ury | Else Ury (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 13, 1922 – Birth: NM Bodek

Dan­ish-Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and writerNM Bodek(NM Bodeck­er, 1922–1988) was born.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • His most famous achieve­ment was…Edward EagleIllus­trat­ed Edward Eager’s clas­sic fan­ta­sy nov­el series, includ­ing The 1001 Chil­dren’s Books.Half mag­ic-Half Mag­icHis line illus­tra­tions are wit­ty and humor­ous, per­fect­ly match­ing the mag­i­cal world Igle­sias cre­ates.

| born | NM Bodeck­er | NM Bodeck­er (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 13, 2021 — Passed away: Sinica Norborah

Finnish writerSini­ca Norbo­rah(Sinikka Nopo­la, 1953–2021) passed away.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • She and her sis­ter Tiina Nopo­la co-authored the wild­ly pop­u­lar Finnish chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture series, *The Straw Hat and Socks Adven­ture*.Heinähat­tu ja Vilt­ti­tossu / Hayflower and Quilt­shoeThis series of books tells the humor­ous sto­ry of two sis­ters with very dif­fer­ent per­son­al­i­ties and their eccen­tric fam­i­ly, and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death | Sinikka Nopo­la | Sinikka Nopo­la (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 13, 1954 – Born: Brian Caswell

British-born Aus­tralian writerBri­an CaswellBri­an Caswell was born.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • His works are most­ly sci­ence fic­tion and fan­ta­sy nov­els for young adults.
  • Meryl in the Stone­henge（Mer­ryll of the StonesThis is a young adult nov­el that com­bines time trav­el and Welsh leg­ends, and it is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Bri­an Caswell | Bri­an Caswell (Wikipedia) |

More Articles