February 29: Today in the History of Children’s Books

This is a very spe­cial day! Feb­ru­ary 29th is a leap day that occurs only once every four years, and chil­dren’s book cre­ators born on this day can be con­sid­ered tru­ly “cho­sen ones”.

🎂 February 29, 1880 – Birth: Josep Maria Folch i Torres

Famous Span­ish (Cata­lan) writer and nov­el­istJosep Maria Folchi Tor­resBorn in 1880–1950. He was a founder and extreme­ly impor­tant pro­mot­er of Cata­lan chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry.

• Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
• Martha Glen­n’s Extra­or­di­nary Adven­tures（Aven­tures extra­or­di­naires in Mas­sagran(1910): This is his most famous mas­ter­piece.
• Con­tent and Sta­tus: The sto­ry tells of a Cata­lan boy named Mas­sagran who, unwill­ing to live an ordi­nary life, sets sail, encoun­ters a storm, is strand­ed on a desert­ed island, and expe­ri­ences a series of absurd, humor­ous, and exot­ic adven­tures. This book great­ly pro­mot­ed the pop­u­lar­i­ty and read­ing of Cata­lan among chil­dren and was lat­er adapt­ed into a very pop­u­lar com­ic book series. It is includ­ed in *1001 Chil­dren’s Books*.