February 12: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ February 12, 1886 – Death: Randolph Caldecott

British illus­tra­torRan­dolph Calde­cottHe died in 1846–1886. He is hailed as the “Father of Mod­ern Pic­ture Books”.

• His­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: In recog­ni­tion of his pio­neer­ing con­tri­bu­tions to chil­dren’s illus­tra­tion, the Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion estab­lished the Soci­ety for the Study of Chil­dren in 1938.Calde­cott MedalThis is the high­est hon­or in the Amer­i­can pic­ture book indus­try. The “rid­ing man” engraved on the medal is tak­en from his illus­tra­tions in “The Amus­ing Sto­ries of John Gilpin” (The Horse­man on Horse­back).The Divert­ing His­to­ry of John Gilpin).
• style: He trans­formed pic­tures from appendages of text into the main body of nar­ra­tive, endow­ing the images with dynamism and humor.

| Death Randolph Caldecott | Randolph Caldecott (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 12, 1963: Jacqueline Woodson

A renowned African Amer­i­can writerJacque­line Wood­sonBorn. She is a lead­ing fig­ure in con­tem­po­rary chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

• High­est Hon­or:
• Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 2020 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers.
• Astrid Lind­gren Memo­r­i­al Award (ALMA): At 2018 Award­ed.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Dream of the Brown Girl（Brown Girl Dream­ing): An auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal mem­oir writ­ten in free verse, which won the Nation­al Book Award and the New­bery Hon­or.
• “Guid­ing the Way”（Show Way) and **“Feath­er”** (Feath­ersHer works explore race, fam­i­ly, and belong­ing in beau­ti­ful lan­guage.

| born Jacqueline Woodson | Jacqueline Woodson (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ February 12, 2000 — Passed away Charles M. Schulz

Amer­i­can car­toon­istCharles M. SchultzHe died in 1922–2000.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Peanuts Comics（PeanutsHe cre­at­ed icon­ic char­ac­ters such as Snoopy and Char­lie Brown. This com­ic strip ran for half a cen­tu­ry, explor­ing pro­found life themes such as fail­ure, anx­i­ety, and friend­ship from a child’s per­spec­tive. It is an impor­tant part of glob­al pop­u­lar cul­ture and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Death Charles M. Schulz | Charles M. Schulz (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 12, 1945: David Small

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and authorDavid Smallborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Calde­cott Medal: With theIf you want to be pres­i­dent…-So you want to be pres­i­dent?(Pub­lished in 2000) won an award 2001 Calde­cott MedalIn the book, he depict­ed amus­ing anec­dotes about past US pres­i­dents in a satir­i­cal car­toon style.
• Calde­cott Hon­or:
• 1998: 《gar­den­er-The Gar­den­er(in col­lab­o­ra­tion with his wife Sarah Stew­art), it tells the sto­ry of a lit­tle girl who brings hope to the city through gar­den­ing dur­ing the Great Depres­sion.
• 2013: 《Can I have a pen­guin?-One Cool Friend).

| born | David Small | David Small (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 12, 1941: Judi Barrett

Amer­i­can writ­ersJodie Bar­rettborn.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• “Meat­balls Falling on a Cloudy Day”（Cloudy With a Chance of Meat­balls(Illus­trat­ed by Ron Bar­rett, 1978): This is a whim­si­cal sto­ry about food falling from the sky in Chew Town.
• sta­tus: This book, with its absurd and humor­ous set­ting, has inspired the imag­i­na­tion of count­less chil­dren and was lat­er adapt­ed into a very suc­cess­ful ani­mat­ed film of the same name.

| born | Judi Barrett | Judi Barrett (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ February 12, 1970 – Died: Claire Therese Newbery

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and authorClaire Therese New­beryClare Turlay New­ber­ry (1903–1970) died. She was famous for her paint­ings of cats.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Four Calde­cott Hon­ors:
• 《Pak­istan-Barkis(1939): About a pup­py.
• 《April kit­tens-April’s Kit­tens(1941).
• 《Marsh­mal­low Bun­ny-Marsh­mal­low(1943): This tells the true sto­ry of a cat named Oliv­er who takes in a lit­tle rab­bit named Marsh­mal­low.
• 《Nan­ny T‑bone-T‑Bone, the Baby Sit­ter(1951).
• style: She excels at cap­tur­ing the pos­ture and spir­it of cats, cre­at­ing soft, fluffy, and high­ly tex­tured paint­ings.

| Death Claire Thery Newbery | Clare Turlay Newberry (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born February 12, 1982: Christian McKay Heidicker

Amer­i­can writ­ersChris­t­ian Hei­dickborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Hon­or: With theThe lit­tle fox is not, no, not afraid.-Scary Sto­ries for Young Fox­es(Pub­lished in 2019) won the award 2020 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.
• con­tent: This is a col­lec­tion of hor­ror sto­ries writ­ten specif­i­cal­ly for young read­ers, telling the sto­ry of two lit­tle fox­es’ sur­vival adven­ture in a dark for­est, with a tense and cap­ti­vat­ing atmos­phere.

| born Christian McKay Heidicker | Christian McKay Heidicker (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Nakat­su­ji Etsuko (Etsuko Nakat­su­ji)	Japan­ese illus­tra­tor.1999 BIB Grand PrixThe win­ner of the Grand Prix (Night­time Kinder­garten) has a work with a strong sense of mod­ern design.	N/A
born	Hans Bill (Hans de Beer)	Dutch illus­tra­tor.1991 BIB Badge AwardAward win­ner. His most famous work is “Lit­tle Polar Bear” (Lit­tle Polar Bear / Lars)series.	N/A
born	Joseph Weil­can (Józef Wilkoń)	Pol­ish illus­tra­tor and sculp­tor.1969 BIB Badge of Mer­itThe win­ner. One of the most promi­nent fig­ures in the Pol­ish school of illus­tra­tion.	N/A
Death	Gian­na Anguil­la (Giana Anguis­so­la)	Ital­ian writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Shy Vio­let*.Vio­let­ta la tim­i­da), a clas­sic nov­el about a girl’s com­ing of age.	Link
Death	Joseph Low (Joseph Low)	Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor.1981 Calde­cott Hon­orThe win­ner (from “Anoth­er Mouse”).	Link