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

⚰️ April 24, 1731 – Death: Daniel Defoe

The Father of the Eng­lish Nov­el Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) Died.

• Impor­tant works and sta­tus:
  • Robin­son Cru­soe (Robin­son Cru­soePub­lished in 1719, it is wide­ly rec­og­nized as the first nov­el in the mod­ern sense in the his­to­ry of world lit­er­a­ture.
• Lit­er­ary val­ue: Although it was not orig­i­nal­ly writ­ten for chil­dren, its tena­cious will to sur­vive and its spir­it of explo­ration of the unknown have made it a clas­sic that young peo­ple have read for three cen­turies and it has been includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Died | Daniel Defoe | Daniel Defoe (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ April 24, 1942 – Died: Lucy Maud Montgomery

One of Canada’s most famous writ­ers Lucy Maud Mont­gomery He died in 1874–1942.

• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green GablesThis work made “Anne of Green Gables” the most pop­u­lar girl char­ac­ter in the world and was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.
• sta­tus: Her char­ac­ter Anne is full of imag­i­na­tion, loves life, and refus­es to bow to fate. She not only shows read­ers around the world the stun­ning scenery of Prince Edward Island, but also gives count­less girls the courage to pur­sue self-real­iza­tion.

| Died| Lucy Maud Mont­gomery | LM Mont­gomery (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 April 24, 1914 – Born: Motoichirō Takebe

Famous Japan­ese illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book artist Takebe Moto­ichi­ro Born (1914–1980).

• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • The Poor Ele­phant (かわいそうなぞう(This is a pic­ture book based on the trag­ic fate of the ele­phants at Ueno Zoo dur­ing World War II. It is one of the most influ­en­tial anti-war pic­ture books in Japan.)
  • Illus­tra­tions for “Princess of Mars”: His illus­tra­tions for Edgar Rice Bur­roughs’ Mars series hold a supreme posi­tion in the sci­ence fic­tion world, defin­ing the visu­al lan­guage of sci­ence fic­tion roman­ti­cism.

| Birth | Moto­ichi­ro Takebe | Moto­ichi­ro Takebe (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 April 24, 1900 – Born: Elizabeth Goudge

British nov­el­ist Eliz­a­beth Gugi Born (1900–1984).

• Key Achieve­ments:
  • Carnegie Medal (CMW): With thePrincess Moon in the Cas­tle-The Lit­tle White Horse) won 1946 Carnegie Medal.
• Anec­dote: This work is wide­ly regard­ed by J.K. Rowl­ing as her favorite book from child­hood, and it had a pro­found influ­ence on her sub­se­quent writ­ing. Gugi is adept at cre­at­ing a fan­tas­ti­cal atmos­phere full of clas­si­cal mys­tery and moral beau­ty.

| Birth | Eliz­a­beth Gug­gi | Eliz­a­beth Goudge (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 April 24, 1911 – Born: Evaline Ness

Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book author Eve­lyn Ness Born (1911–1986).

• High­est Hon­or:
  • Calde­cott Medal: With theSasa’s Moon­light-Sam, Bangs & Moon­shine) won Gold Medal 1967.
• Artis­tic fea­tures: Her works are renowned for their exquis­ite graph­ic design and wood­cut tex­ture. “Sasa’s Moon­light” explores the del­i­cate bound­ary between a child’s inner fan­ta­sy (moon­light) and real­i­ty (truth), and is a mod­el of psy­cho­log­i­cal depic­tion in pic­ture books.

| Birth | Eve­lyn Ness | Eva­line Ness (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Wikipedia link
born	Kato Hisao (Kunio Katô)	With theBuild­ing Block House》 won 2013 French Witch AwardsThe short film of the same name won the Acad­e­my Award for Best Ani­mat­ed Short Film.	Kato Hisao
born	Jas­min Val­ha (Jas­mine War­ga)	With theAnoth­er Home­land Lan­guage》 won 2020 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.	Jas­mine War­ga
born	Clive King (Clive King)	Rep­re­sen­ta­tive worksSteven in the garbage dumpIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books” and is a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of British Stone Age fan­ta­sy clas­sics.	Clive King
born	Arca­dio Roba­to	With theLoy­al Bull》 won 1983 BIB Hon­orary Award.	Arca­dio Loba­to
Death	Emma Smith (Emma Smith)	Rep­re­sen­ta­tive worksOver­com­ing obsta­cles-No Way of TellingIt was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.	Emma Smith