Bridge of Ajia

February 16: Today in the History of Children’s Books

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🎂 Born February 16, 1940: Roberto Innocenti

Ital­ian nation­al trea­sure illus­tra­torRobert Inno­cen­tiBorn. He is known for his extreme­ly del­i­cate, pho­to­re­al­is­tic style and grand his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 2008 Award­edHans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Illus­tra­tion.
  • BIB Gold­en Apple Award: In 1985, with “Small flow­ers on the wire mesh-Rose BlancheAward­ed.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Lit­tle Flow­ers on the Barbed Wire（Rose BlancheThis is a poignant sto­ry about the dev­as­ta­tion of World War II, told from the per­spec­tive of a lit­tle girl named Rose, who wit­ness­es the cru­el­ty of Nazi con­cen­tra­tion camps. It is one of the very few clas­sic pic­ture books in chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture his­to­ry that direct­ly con­fronts the sub­ject of the Holo­caust.
  • Pinoc­chio（Pinoc­chioHe infused this Ital­ian clas­sic with a rich Tus­can fla­vor and metic­u­lous his­tor­i­cal details.
  • “nut­crack­er”（The Nut­crack­er) and “A Hun­dred-Year-Old House“The House).

| born | Rober­to Inno­cen­ti | Rober­to Inno­cen­ti (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ February 16, 2017 — Passed away Dick Bruna

Dutch author, illus­tra­tor, and graph­ic design­erDick BrunaHe died in 1927–2017.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • “Miffy series（Miffy / Nijn­t­jeHe cre­at­ed the world’s most famous rab­bit.
  • style: Bruner was deeply influ­enced by Mon­dri­an and the De Sti­jl move­ment. He insist­ed on using bold black lines and pri­ma­ry col­ors such as red, yel­low, blue, and green (“Bruner col­ors”), con­vey­ing the rich­est emo­tions with the most min­i­mal­ist lines (espe­cial­ly the icon­ic “X”-shaped mouth). His work is con­sid­ered a par­a­digm of min­i­mal­ist design.

| Death Dick Bruna | Dick Bruna (Wikipedia) |

🎂 February 16, 1933 – Birth: Nancy Ekholm Burkert

Famous Amer­i­can illus­tra­torNan­cy Ekholm Bur­kettborn.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Hon­or: With theSnow White and the Sev­en Dwarfs-Snow-White and the Sev­en Dwarfs(Pub­lished in 1972, trans­lat­ed by Ran­dall Jar­rell) won an award. 1973 Calde­cott Hon­or.
  • style: Her ver­sion of Snow White is wide­ly regard­ed as one of the most beau­ti­ful illus­trat­ed edi­tions of the sto­ry. She con­sult­ed numer­ous medieval texts, and her illus­tra­tions pos­sess the solem­ni­ty and del­i­ca­cy of the Renais­sance, with each page resem­bling a fine muse­um paint­ing.

| born | Nan­cy Ekholm Burk­ert | Nan­cy Ekholm Burk­ert (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ February 16, 2002 — Passed away Carol Fenner

Amer­i­can writ­ersCar­ol Fen­nerHe died in 1929–2002.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Hon­or: With theMy younger broth­er is a genius.-Yolon­da’s Genius(Pub­lished in 1995) won awards 1996 New­bery Sil­ver Medal(Note: The year 1963 in your orig­i­nal infor­ma­tion may be a mis­print; the actu­al year of the award is 1996.)
  • con­tent: The sto­ry tells the touch­ing tale of Yolan­da, an African Amer­i­can girl who firm­ly believes that her younger broth­er Andrew, who has learn­ing dis­abil­i­ties, is a musi­cal genius, and how she strives to prove it to the world.

| Death | Car­ol Fen­ner | Car­ol Fen­ner (Wikipedia) |

Ver­sion 1.0.0

⚰️ February 16, 2022 — Passed away: Leonard P. Kessler

Amer­i­can writer and illus­tra­torLeonard KesslerHe passed away in 1920–2022 at the age of 101.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Mr. Pine’s Pur­ple House（Mr. Pine’s Pur­ple HouseThis is a clas­sic from the Easy-to-read series. It tells the sto­ry of Mr. Pine, who decides to paint his house pur­ple so that it will stand out from the uni­form streets. It’s a love­ly fable about indi­vid­u­al­i­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty.

| Death Leonard P. Kessler | Leonard Kessler (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornTom­my Coen­teau (Tomi Kon­tio)Finnish poet and writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is “That Spring, My Father Grew Wings” (The Spring­time When My Father Grew Wings).Kevääl­lä isä sai siivet), a Nordic chil­dren’s book full of mag­i­cal real­ism, is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.Link
bornAnna­mari van Har­lin­gen (Annemarie van Haerin­gen)Dutch illus­tra­tor.2015 BIB Badge AwardThe win­ner (of “Snow White Weav­ing a Mon­ster”) is known for his humor­ous ink-wash style.N/A

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