March 1st: Today in Children’s Book History

🎂 Born March 1, 1943: Sam McBratney

Famous chil­dren’s author from North­ern Ire­landSam McBrat­neyBorn (1943–2020).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Guess How Much I Love YouGuess How Much I Love You(1994): This pic­ture book, which he co-authored with illus­tra­tor Ani­ta Jer­am, is a mir­a­cle in the his­to­ry of chil­dren’s book pub­lish­ing world­wide, sell­ing over 50 mil­lion copies.
  • sta­tus: The book fea­tures a con­stant com­pe­ti­tion of affec­tion between the big maroon rab­bit and the lit­tle maroon rab­bit, espe­cial­ly the line, “I will love you all the way to the moon and back.“I love you right up to the moon—and backIt has become a time­less clas­sic for par­ents and chil­dren around the world to express their love, and has been includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

born Sam McBrat­ney | Sam McBrat­ney (Wikipedia) |


⚰️ March 1, 2017 — Passed away: Paula Fox

Amer­i­can famous writerPaula FoxShe passed away in 1923–2017. She achieved great artis­tic suc­cess in both chil­dren’s and adult lit­er­a­ture, and her works are known for their pro­found psy­cho­log­i­cal descrip­tions and courage in the face of harsh real­i­ty.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1978 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers.
  • New­bery Medal: With theMoon­light-The Slave Dancer(Pub­lished in 1973) won awards 1974 New­bery Medal.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Moon­lightThis is a pow­er­ful his­tor­i­cal nov­el. It tells the cru­el sto­ry of a 13-year-old boy who is kid­napped and tak­en to a slave ship, where he is forced to play a flute to make the slaves “dance” in order to main­tain their strength, con­fronting the dark his­to­ry of the slave trade.
  • The One-Eyed CatOne-Eyed Cat): Win­ner of the 1985 New­bery Sil­ver Medal, it explores themes of acci­dent, guilt, and respon­si­bil­i­ty.
  • “Por­trait of Ivan”Por­trait of Ivan).

Death Paula Fox | Paula Fox (Wikipedia) |


🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
DeathHar­ry Cole­man (Har­ry Kull­man)Swedish writer. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *War Horse*.The Bat­tle HorseHe is best known for his depic­tions of the lives of work­ing-class chil­dren and class con­flict in Stock­holm. (Note: He appeared as a birth­day cel­e­brant in a brief­ing on Feb­ru­ary 22, 1919, and died on March 1, 1982.)Link