January 27: Today in the history of children’s books

🎂 January 27, 1832 – Birth: Lewis Carroll

British math­e­mati­cian, logi­cian, and writerLewis Car­rollBorn (1832–1898). (Note: He died on Jan­u­ary 14).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Alice’s Adven­tures in Won­der­land（Alice’s Adven­tures in Won­der­land(1865): This work is con­sid­ered a pin­na­cle of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, com­plete­ly shed­ding the didac­tic tone preva­lent in chil­dren’s books at the time.
• fea­ture: Car­roll uses bound­less imag­i­na­tion, rig­or­ous log­i­cal games, and non­sense to cre­ate an under­ground world that fas­ci­nates both adults and chil­dren. The book is includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*.

| born | Lewis Car­roll | Lewis Car­roll (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 27, 2010 — Passed away JD Salinger

Amer­i­can writ­ersJD SalingerHe died in 1919–2010.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Catch­er in the Rye（The Catch­er in the Rye(1951): Although Salinger did not orig­i­nal­ly write specif­i­cal­ly for chil­dren, this book defined con­tem­po­rary chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.Young Adult Lit­er­a­ture.
• Influ­ence: The pro­tag­o­nist, Hold­en Caulfield, with his rebel­lious, con­fused, and dis­gust­ed atti­tude towards the hypocrisy of the adult world, res­onat­ed with count­less teenage read­ers. The book was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death JD Salinger | JD Salinger (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 27, 1923 – Birth: Jean Merrill

Amer­i­can writ­ersJane Mer­rillBorn (1923–2012).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Hand­cart Bat­tle（The Push­cart War(1964): This is an extreme­ly bril­liant polit­i­cal satire set in futur­is­tic New York.
• con­tent: The sto­ry tells of how street ven­dors sell­ing veg­eta­bles, fruits, and small goods band togeth­er and use guer­ril­la tac­tics (such as using pea shoot­ers) to fight against giant truck­ing com­pa­nies that monop­o­lize the streets. This book has been a sta­ple of Amer­i­can school read­ing for many years.

| born Jean Mer­rill | Jean Mer­rill (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 27, 1928 – Birth: Harry Allard

Amer­i­can writ­ersHar­ry AradBorn (1928–2017).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Nel­son series(Illus­tra­tion: James Mar­shall)
• Ms. Nel­son has dis­ap­peared!（Miss Nel­son is miss­ing!：This tells the sto­ry of a gen­tle teacher, Ms. Nel­son, who dis­guis­es her­self as a ter­ri­fy­ing sub­sti­tute teacher, “Miss Vio­la Swamp,” in order to dis­ci­pline her unruly stu­dents.
• sta­tus: With its humor­ous plot twists and vivid depic­tion of teacher-stu­dent rela­tion­ships, this sto­ry has become one of the most clas­sic school pic­ture books in the Unit­ed States and has been includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Har­ry Allard | Har­ry Allard (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 27, 2009 — Passed away Blair Lent

Amer­i­can illus­tra­torBlair LantHe died (1930–2009). (Note: He was born on Jan­u­ary 22, as pre­vi­ous­ly report­ed in a brief­ing.)

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Medal: 《The Laugh­ing Old Lady Who Lost the Rice Ball-The Fun­ny Lit­tle Woman(1973).
• Calde­cott Sil­ver Medal:
• 《waves-The Wave(1965).
• 《Why do the sun and moon live in the sky?-Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky(1969).
• 《The moon is angry-The Angry Moon(1971).
• 《Tian­ci Baby and A Xiao-Tik­ki Tik­ki Tem­bo)

| Death Blair Lent | Blair Lent (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 January 27, 1939 – Birth: Julius Lester

African Amer­i­can writerJulius LesterBorn (1939–2018). (Note: He died on Jan­u­ary 18, as pre­vi­ous­ly men­tioned in a brief­ing).

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Sil­ver Medal: With the non-fic­tion work “as slaves-To Be a Slave(Pub­lished in 1968) 1969 New­bery Sil­ver MedalThrough authen­tic his­tor­i­cal mate­ri­als and nar­ra­tives, he revealed the cru­el truth of slav­ery to young read­ers.
• John Hen­ry（John Hen­ryHe retells the sto­ry of the leg­endary Black hero who com­pet­ed with a steam rig (illus­trat­ed by Jer­ry Pinkney in the pic­ture book ver­sion), which has been high­ly praised.

| born | Julius Lester | Julius Lester (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 27, 2014 — Passed away Pete Seeger

Amer­i­can folk singer and social activistPete SiegHe died in 1919–2014.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Abi­anyo（Abiy­oyoThis is a pic­ture book adapt­ed from a South African lul­la­by. The sto­ry tells of a ostra­cized father and son who defeat the fear­some giant Abyiy­oyo with a ukulele and their songs. Both the song and the book have become clas­sics.

| Death Pete Seeger | Pete Seeger (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ January 27, 1990 — Died: Henry Winterfeld

Ger­man-Amer­i­can writerHen­ry Win­ter­fieldHe died in 1901–1990.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Detec­tive in the Loose Coat（Caius ist ein Dummkopf / Detec­tives in TogasThis is a juve­nile detec­tive nov­el set in ancient Rome, telling the sto­ry of a group of stu­dents who solve cas­es to clear their class­mate’s name. The plot is fast-paced, blend­ing his­tor­i­cal knowl­edge with engag­ing mys­tery, and it has been includ­ed in the “1001 Chil­dren’s Books” series.

| Death | Hen­ry Win­ter­feld | Hen­ry Win­ter­feld (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Lil­lian Brog (Lil­ian Brøg­ger)	Dan­ish illus­tra­tor.2005 BIB Gold­en Apple AwardThe win­ner (of “One Hun­dred Very Square Sto­ries”).	Link
born	Elz­be­ta Godass­ka (Elż­bi­eta Gau­dasińs­ka)	Pol­ish illus­tra­tor.1985 BIB Gold­en Apple AwardThe win­ner (from “The Old Man and the Old Woman”).	N/A
born	Phil Stone (Phil Stong)	Amer­i­can writer.New­bery Sil­ver Medal, 1936The win­ner (Moose Hunk) tells a humor­ous sto­ry about two Min­neso­ta boys and a moose that wan­ders into their town.	Link
Death	Jef­frey Trey (Geof­frey Trease)	British author. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Trai­tor­’s Clues*.Cue for Trea­son), a clas­sic his­tor­i­cal adven­ture nov­el set in the time of Shake­speare.	Link