Bridge of Ajia

January 19: Today in the History of Children’s Books

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🎂 Born January 19, 1983: Manon Stefan Ross

Welsh nov­el­ist and play­wrightManon Ste­fan Ross(Manon Stef­fan Ros) was born.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Carnegie Medal: She relied on “Nibo’s Blue Book-The Blue Book of NeboThe orig­i­nal text is in Welsh. Llyfr Glas Nebo) won 2023 Carnegie Medal.
  • con­tent: This is a deeply mov­ing post-apoc­a­lyp­tic nov­el that tells the sto­ry of a moth­er and her son strug­gling to sur­vive in a remote cor­ner of Wales after the world col­laps­es. It is the first trans­lat­ed work to win the Carnegie Medal (trans­lat­ed from Welsh to Eng­lish by the author him­self).

| born | Manon Stef­fan Ros | Manon Stef­fan Ros (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 19, 1925 – Birth: Nina Bowden

British famous writerNina Bow­denBorn (Nina Baw­den, 1925–2012). She was skilled at depict­ing the psy­cho­log­i­cal changes of chil­dren in tur­bu­lent envi­ron­ments with del­i­cate strokes.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Kel­ly’s War（Car­rie’s War(1973): This nov­el is based on the author’s true expe­ri­ence of being evac­u­at­ed to the Welsh coun­try­side dur­ing World War II.
  • sta­tus: The sto­ry recounts Kel­ly and her broth­er’s expe­ri­ence of being evac­u­at­ed to the home of the eccen­tric Mr. Evans, explor­ing growth, fear, and under­stand­ing under the shad­ow of war. Wide­ly regard­ed as a clas­sic work on the sub­ject of chil­dren evac­u­at­ed dur­ing World War II, it is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

| born | Nina Baw­den | Nina Baw­den (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born January 19, 1964: Marit Torqvist

Swedish-Dutch illus­tra­torMar­it TorqvistMar­it Törn­qvist was born. She had a close work­ing rela­tion­ship with Astrid Lind­gren.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: She was short­list­ed 2016 Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Illus­tra­tionThe final short­list.
  • BIB Award: In 2011, with “Unex­pect­ed events-Wat nie­mand had verwacht) Received the Badge Award at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tions (BIB).
  • oth­er: She was also respon­si­ble for the set design of the famous fairy tale train at the Juni­back­en Chil­dren’s Muse­um in Stock­holm, Swe­den.

| born | Mar­it Törn­qvist | Mar­it Törn­qvist (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 19, 1994 — Died: Paul Bona

French writerPaul BonaPaul Berna (1908–1994) died.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • The Head­less Horse（Le Cheval sans têteIn 1955, the Eng­lish trans­la­tion was… A Hun­dred Mil­lion FrancsThis is a famous chil­dren’s detec­tive adven­ture nov­el.
  • con­tent: The sto­ry takes place in a poor neigh­bor­hood of post-war Paris, where a group of street chil­dren become unex­pect­ed­ly involved in solv­ing a major train rob­bery after their beloved toy—a head­less old wood­en horse—is stolen. The book is fast-paced, real­is­tic, and includ­ed in the book series “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

| Death Paul Berna | Paul Berna (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 19, 1942 – Birth: Pat Mora

Amer­i­can writer and edu­ca­torPat MoraPat Mora was born. She was a key advo­cate for the bilin­gual lit­er­a­cy move­ment in the Unit­ed States and found­ed “Chil­dren’s Day/Book Day” (El día de los niños / El día de los libros).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Thomas and the Library Lady（Tomás and the Library LadyThis pic­ture book is based on the true child­hood of the famous edu­ca­tor Tomás Rivera. It tells the sto­ry of an immi­grant work­er’s child who dis­cov­ers the vast world through books with the help of a kind librar­i­an.

| born Pat Mora | Pat Mora (Wikipedia) |

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