May 15th: Today in the History of Children’s Books

🎂 Born 1891: Jella Lepman

A Ger­man jour­nal­ist, writer, and social activist. She was a “spir­i­tu­al leader” in the inter­na­tion­al chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture world after World War II, and also… Inter­na­tion­al Board on Books for Young Peo­ple (IBBY) and Munich Inter­na­tion­al Youth Library (IJB) The founder.

• His­tor­i­cal con­tri­bu­tions: After World War II, she firm­ly believed that books were the best weapon to heal the wounds of war and pro­mote inter­na­tion­al under­stand­ing. She launched the “Books for Chil­dren All Over the World” cam­paign, col­lect­ing chil­dren’s books from around the world.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Build­ing Bridges with Chil­dren’s Books (A Bridge of Chil­dren’s Books)。
• Cul­tur­al sym­bols: She is known as “the lady who lives with books.” Many con­tem­po­rary pic­ture books, such as “Jera Lep­p­mann and Her Dream Library,” pay trib­ute to this great woman.

| Birth | Yela Lep­p­mann | Jel­la Lep­man (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1951: David Almond

A renowned British author and a lead­ing fig­ure in con­tem­po­rary mag­i­cal real­ism for young peo­ple.

• High­est Hon­or: 2010 Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Best WriterWin­ner;Carnegie Medal (CMW) The win­ner.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• When Angels Fall to Earth (Skel­lig(This is a sto­ry about a boy who dis­cov­ers a mys­te­ri­ous crea­ture in a garage, blur­ring the lines between real­i­ty and fan­ta­sy.)
• Lost in the Wilder­ness (Kit’s Wilder­ness)、My Name is Mina (My name is Mina)。
• Artis­tic fea­tures: His writ­ing is full of spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, mys­tery, and deep con­cern for human­i­ty, and he is often hailed as a “philoso­pher on paper.”

| Birth | David Almond | David Almond (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1856: L. Frank Baum

“The “Father of Oz,” the cre­ator of Amer­i­can folk­tales.

• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: The Wiz­ard of Oz (The Won­der­ful Wiz­ard of Oz)。
• sta­tus: Baum was born on May 15 (and died on May 6). He cre­at­ed Yel­low Brick Road, Emer­ald City, and Dorothy, suc­cess­ful­ly implant­i­ng Amer­i­can imag­i­na­tion into the clas­sic lit­er­ary land­scape, and his works are includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| Birth | Lyman Frank Baum | L. Frank Baum (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1974 – Kadir Nelson

One of the most out­stand­ing African Amer­i­can illus­tra­tors and artists of con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­ca. He is known for his grand oil paint­ing style and solemn por­tray­al of African Amer­i­can his­to­ry.

• High­est Hon­or: 2020 Calde­cott MedalAward win­ner; mul­ti­ple-time win­ner of the Coret­ta Scott King Award.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• The Unde­feat­ed (The Unde­feat­ed): Calde­cott Medal Win­ner.
• Salt in the Shoes、Hen­ry’s Free­dom Box.
• style: His paint­ings are full of hero­ism and extreme­ly del­i­cate sense of pow­er, often con­vey­ing a pro­found sense of his­to­ry through sta­t­ic por­traits.

| Birth | Kadir Nel­son | Kadir Nel­son (Wikipedia) |

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⚰️ 2012 — Died: Jean Craighead George

Amer­i­can nature writer and ecol­o­gist (1919–2012).

• High­est Hon­or: 1973 New­bery MedalThe win­ner.
• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
• Julie of the Wolves (Julie of the Wolves): Explor­ing wilder­ness sur­vival and self-iden­ti­ty.
• Moun­tain Dwelling Years (My Side of the Moun­tain): New­bery Sil­ver Medal win­ner.
• sta­tus: She is the author in the chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture world who under­stands the lan­guage of nature best. Her works encour­age chil­dren to respect the ecol­o­gy and find strength in nature.

| Deceased | Jane Craig­head George | Jean Craig­head George (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1936: Paul Zindel

Amer­i­can author and play­wright (1936–2003).

• Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Pig­man (The Pig­manPub­lished in 1968, it is wide­ly regard­ed as the prog­en­i­tor of mod­ern young adult fic­tion (YA), pro­found­ly depict­ing the rebel­lion, friend­ship, and inner lone­li­ness of teenagers.

| Birth | Paul Kindell | Paul Zin­del (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1888: Miska Petersham

Hun­gar­i­an-Amer­i­can illus­tra­tor and writer (1888–1960).

• Key Achieve­ments: With The Roost­er Crows (The Roost­er CrowsAward­ed 1946 Calde­cott Medal.
• con­tribute: He and his wife Maud are the famous “Peter­shams” in the his­to­ry of chil­dren’s books. They intro­duced Euro­pean dec­o­ra­tive style to Amer­i­can pic­ture books, and their works crossed the bound­aries between pop­u­lar sci­ence and lit­er­a­ture.

| Birth | Miska Peter­sham | Miska Peter­sham (Wikipedia) |

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🎂 Born 1980: Amandine Laprun

French con­tem­po­rary illus­tra­tor and pic­ture book author.

• Key Achieve­ments: With Just One Straw­ber­ry Plant (Juste un fraisi­erAward­ed The 2021 French Prix Sor­cièresHis work, “The Tree of the Four Sea­sons” (ArbreWith its unique page-turn­ing design and del­i­cate depic­tion of the nat­ur­al cycle, it is high­ly regard­ed in the field of art chil­dren’s books.

| Birth | Arman­d­i­na Lap­land | Aman­dine Laprun (Wikipedia) |

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🗓️ More important creator briefings

event	fig­ure	Details/Awards	Wikipedia link
Death	Arlene Moser	Author of the clas­sic pic­ture bookTian­ci Baby and A Xiao“and“The Laugh­ing Old Lady Who Lost the Rice Ball(The lat­ter won the Calde­cott Medal.)	Arlene Mosel
born	Nan­cy Gar­den	Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: [Title of work not pro­vid­ed]Anne in my heart“Iden­ti­ty” is an impor­tant work in youth lit­er­a­ture con­cern­ing iden­ti­ty.	Nan­cy Gar­den
born	Nor­ma Meze	Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: [Title of work not pro­vid­ed]After the Rain》 (After the RainAward­ed 1988 New­bery Sil­ver Medal.	Nor­ma Fox Maz­er
born	Flo­rence Means	Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: [Title of work not pro­vid­ed]Peo­ple who were relo­cat­edThe film reflects the expe­ri­ences of Japan­ese Amer­i­cans dur­ing World War II and won the New­bery Hon­or.	FC Means
born	William Bowen	Amer­i­can author. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive work: [Title of work not pro­vid­ed]Old tobac­co shop》 won The first New­bery Sil­ver Medal in 1922.	William Bowen
Death	Glo­ria Ansado­va	Mex­i­can-Amer­i­can author. His works include…Friends from thereIt explores bor­der cul­ture and friend­ship and is includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.	Glo­ria Anzaldúa
Death	Mar­garet Rei­dich	Ger­man illus­tra­tor. Known for [his/her] book…Small Boat Trip》 won 1981 Ger­man Youth Lit­er­a­ture Prize (DJLP).	Mar­gret Ret­tich
born	Alan McGre­gor	Amer­i­can writer. With a high­ly imag­i­na­tive… Miss Pick­rell (Miss Pick­erellIt is famous for its sci­ence fic­tion series.	Ellen Mac­Gre­gor