March 24: Today in the History of Children’s Books

⚰️ March 24, 1905 – Death: Jules Verne

A great French nov­el­ist, play­wright, and poet, hailed as the “father of sci­ence fic­tion.”“ofJules Verne (1828–1905) died.

• Impor­tant works and sta­tus:
  • Around the World in Eighty Days（Le Tour du monde en 80 jours(This work is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”). This work is not only a pin­na­cle of adven­ture lit­er­a­ture, but also show­cas­es human­i­ty’s chal­lenges to the lim­its of speed and geog­ra­phy dur­ing the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion.
  • Influ­ence: His “extra­or­di­nary jour­neys” series (includ­ing “Twen­ty Thou­sand Leagues Under the Sea” and “Jour­ney to the Cen­ter of the Earth”) inspired count­less young peo­ple’s pas­sion for sci­ence and explo­ration. Many of his ideas (such as sub­marines and moon land­ings) became real­i­ty many years lat­er.

| Death | Jules Verne | Jules Verne (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 24, 2020 — Passed away: Albert Uderzo

French famous car­toon­ist and illus­tra­torAlbert UdzoHe died in 1927–2020.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Aris­to­tle（AstérixIn 1959, he co-cre­at­ed the char­ac­ter with screen­writer René Goscin­ny. After Goscin­ny’s death, Ude­zo took on the screen­writ­ing and illus­tra­tion work inde­pen­dent­ly.
  • sta­tus: The diminu­tive hero Aster­ix, who fought against the Roman Empire’s inva­sion, and his chub­by friend Obelix are not only nation­al sym­bols of France, but also one of the world’s most pop­u­lar com­ic book series, trans­lat­ed into more than 100 lan­guages and includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Died | Albert Udzo | Albert Uder­zo (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 24, 1996 — Died: Leo Politi

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and authorLeo Poli­tiHe died in 1908–1996.

• Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With theSong of the Swal­low-Song of the Swal­lows(Pub­lished in 1949) won awards 1950 Calde­cott Medal.
  • Artis­tic fea­tures: Poli­ti’s works often fea­ture the Lati­no com­mu­ni­ties of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, with a gen­tle and ele­gant style that is full of rich mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism and a warm trib­ute to tra­di­tion­al cus­toms.

| Passed Away | Leo Poli­ti | Leo Poli­ti (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ March 24, 2014 — Passed away John Rowe Townsend

A renowned British chil­dren’s book author, crit­ic, and his­to­ri­an of chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.John Lowe TownsendHe died in 1922–2014.

• Key con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Aca­d­e­m­ic Achieve­ments: His *Out­line His­to­ry of Eng­lish Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture* (Writ­ten for Chil­drenThis is one of the most author­i­ta­tive intro­duc­to­ry and research ref­er­ence books in the field, trac­ing the devel­op­ment of Eng­lish chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.
  • Nov­el writ­ing: Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: “Gam­per’s Yard“Gum­ble’s YardIt depicts the lives of under­priv­i­leged teenagers with a real­is­tic touch and is an impor­tant work of British real­ist chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture.

| Passed Away | John Lowe Townsend | John Rowe Townsend (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born March 24, 1920: Mary Stolz

A renowned pro­lif­ic Amer­i­can writerMary StoltzBorn (1920–2006).

• Key Achieve­ments:
  • New­bery Hon­or: He has received hon­orary awards twice. Among them, [the fol­low­ing is a sep­a­rate award].Friends at noon-The Noon­day FriendsIt depicts the friend­ship and self-esteem of chil­dren from impov­er­ished fam­i­lies and is known for its del­i­cate psy­cho­log­i­cal por­tray­al.

| Birth | Mary Stolz | Mary Stolz (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Main Ref­er­ence
born	Bill Cliff (Bill Cleaver)	Amer­i­can author. He co-authored *The Sto­ry of the Lily* with his wife, Vera.Where the Lilies Bloom(This is a clas­sic sto­ry about the strug­gles of orphans in the Appalachi­an Moun­tains.)	Bill Cleaver (Biog­ra­phy)
born	Han­no Drexler (Han­no Drech­sler)	Ger­man author. Win­ner of the 1971 Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (DJLP) (Soci­ety and State), with out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to pop­u­lar sci­ence and social sci­ences for young peo­ple.	Han­no Drech­sler (Wiki­da­ta)
Death	William Mayne (William Mayne)	A pro­lif­ic British writer. His birth­day was men­tioned just a few days ago; he won the Carnegie Medal for “Straw Rope”.	William Mayne (Wikipedia)
Death	Ole Len Kierkegaard (Ole Lund Kirkegaard)	Dan­ish author and illus­tra­tor. Her rep­re­sen­ta­tive work, “The Mag­ic Car­pet,” is beloved for its absurd and humor­ous fairy tale style and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books.”	Ole Lund Kirkegaard (Wikipedia)
Death	Ennis Rees (Ennis Rees)	Amer­i­can trans­la­tor and poet. He trans­formed clas­sic folk tales such as “Breeze the Rab­bit” into rhyth­mic texts.	Ennis Rees (Wikipedia)