February 21: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ February 21, 1974 – Died: James Daugherty

Amer­i­can author and illus­tra­torJames Doher­tyHe died in 1889–1974. He was a key fig­ure in intro­duc­ing Amer­i­can mod­ernist illus­tra­tion style into chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• New­bery Medal: With theDaniel Boone-Daniel Boone, pub­lished in 1939) won New­bery Medal, 1940.
• style: His illus­tra­tion style, influ­enced by mur­al art, fea­tures bold and unre­strained lines, full of pow­er and dynamism (known as the “mus­cu­lar style”), which is very suit­able for express­ing the hero­ism of the Amer­i­can fron­tier peri­od.

| Death | James Daugh­er­ty | James Daugh­er­ty (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 21, 1880 – Birth: Waldemar Bonsels

Ger­man writerWalde­mar BonzelsBorn (1880–1952).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Mayan Adven­tures of the Bees（Die Biene Maja und ihre Aben­teuer(1912): This book is one of the most famous insect fairy tales in the world.
• Influ­ence: The sto­ry tells of Maya, a lit­tle bee who refus­es to live a con­ven­tion­al life in the hive, escapes to explore the world, and ulti­mate­ly saves the hive. This work was lat­er adapt­ed into a high­ly suc­cess­ful ani­mat­ed film, which became a glob­al phe­nom­e­non and was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Walde­mar Bonzels | Walde­mar Bon­sels (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 21, 1903 – Birth: Raymond Queneau

A renowned French writer, poet, and founder of the Oulipo lit­er­ary group.Ray­mond Que­neauBorn (1903–1976).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Zazi in the Sub­way（Zazie dans le métro(1959): This is a sub­ver­sive chil­dren’s (and adult) nov­el.
• con­tent: The sto­ry tells of Zazie, a young girl from the provinces who comes to Paris. She is foul-mouthed, rebel­lious, and her only wish is to ride the metro (which, how­ev­er, goes on strike). The nov­el is famous for its play­ful use of lan­guage and its decon­struc­tion of child­like inno­cence, and was lat­er adapt­ed into a clas­sic film by Louis Malle.

| born Ray­mond Que­neau Ray­mond Que­neau (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 21, 1908 – Birth: Paul Berna

French writerPaul BonaBorn (1908–1994).

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• The Head­less Horse（Le Cheval sans têteEng­lish trans­la­tion A Hun­dred Mil­lion FrancsThis is a clas­sic juve­nile detec­tive nov­el.
• con­tent: This book tells the sto­ry of a group of chil­dren in a Parisian slum who, cen­tered around their only toy—an old, head­less rock­ing horse—unwittingly become involved in and solve a train rob­bery. It real­is­ti­cal­ly depicts the lives of under­priv­i­leged chil­dren in post­war France and is includ­ed in the book series “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”

| born Paul Berna | Paul Berna (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 February 21, 1926 – Birth: Gerda Muller

Dutch-born French illus­tra­torGer­da Müllerborn.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Lit­tle Mara and the Wolf（Mar­laguette(Marie Col­mond): She is the illus­tra­tor of this clas­sic French chil­dren’s book, which tells the sto­ry of a lit­tle girl res­cu­ing and tam­ing a wolf.
• Nature Pic­ture Books: She is best known for her pic­ture books depict­ing nature, such as “The Four Sea­sons in the Gar­den,” which are char­ac­ter­ized by their del­i­cate and real­is­tic style and are full of love for plants and ani­mals.

| born Ger­da Muller | Ger­da Muller (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born February 21, 1933: Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

A renowned Amer­i­can Sioux writerVir­ginia Drey­win Hawke Snef­ferborn.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
• Cul­tur­al Her­itage: She is ded­i­cat­ed to cor­rect­ing stereo­types about Native Amer­i­cans in lit­er­a­ture and telling the true sto­ries and leg­ends of Native Amer­i­cans.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: 《Scam­mers and Trolls-The Trick­ster and the TrollIn 2000, she was award­ed…Nation­al Human­i­ties Medal.

| born Vir­ginia Dry­win Hawke Snef­fer | Vir­ginia Dri­ving Hawk Sneve (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Lin Lude (Ruthanne Lum McCunn)	A Chi­nese-Amer­i­can author. Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Heiress*.Thou­sand Pieces of GoldThe film tells the true sto­ry of Lalu Nathoy (Pol­ly Bemis), a leg­endary Chi­nese-Amer­i­can woman who was traf­ficked to the Amer­i­can West.	Link
born	Roy Bel­loc­chia (Roy Bero­cay)	Uruguayan writer and musi­cian. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Adven­tures of Rube­to the Toad*.Las aven­turas del sapo Ruper­to), is one of the most pop­u­lar chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture char­ac­ters in Latin Amer­i­ca.	Link
born	René Haus­mann (René Haus­man)	Bel­gian illus­tra­tor.1975 BIB Gold­en Apple AwardThe win­ner (of “Strange Ani­mal Fables”) is known for his depic­tions of fan­tas­ti­cal crea­tures and nat­ur­al land­scapes.	N/A
Death	Dorothy Rhodes (Dorothy Rhoads)	Amer­i­can writer.1957 New­bery Sil­ver MedalThe win­ner (from “The Har­vest Sea­son”)The Corn Grows Ripe(This is a descrip­tion of the com­ing-of-age sto­ry of a Mayan boy from the Yucatan Penin­su­la.)	Link
Death	Mabel Robin­son (Mabel Robin­son)	Amer­i­can writer.1938 New­bery MedalThe Win­ner (Dear Bright Island) tells the sto­ry of a girl who grew up on an island and goes to board­ing school inland.	Link