Likely born on September 29, 1547, Miguel de Cervantes worked as both a chamber assistant to a cardinal and as a tax collector before making his "literary break" with Don Quixote de la Mancha. The first part of the novel, published in 1605, established Cervantes as a formidable man of letters. Don Quixote is considered the first modern European novel and a stellar example of the picaresque novel.
Caldecott Award-winning illustrator, John Robert McCloskey, was born September 15, 1914 in Hamilton, Ohio. At an early age he exhibited a love for music - learning the piano, drums, harmonica, and oboe. Later, he developed a unique interest in mechanics and electrical devises. However, all else was forgotten when he began to draw pictures for his school paper.
Roald Dahl is known throughout the world as a beloved author of children’s books. What is less well known is that he also spent several years as a British spy during World War II.
When England declared war on Germany in 1939, Dahl enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF). On one of his first missions, he crash landed his plane in enemy territory and was rescued by a British patrol. Dahl soldiered on for a few more months, but when it became clear that his injuries were interfering with his ability to fly, he was sent back to England to recover.
August 16 marks the 75th Anniversary of the film premiere of The Wizard of Oz. Both the film and the novel on which it is based - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - have a timeless appeal beloved by children and adults alike.
J. K. Rowling, author of the bestselling Harry Potter series and several crime fiction novels, celebrates her birthday July 31st. A real-life "rags to riches" story, Forbes ranked her as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity in 2007. Take a look with us as we explore ten facts you might not know about the beloved author.
In the heart of summer, many of us are reeling from skyrocketing temperatures and thinking wistfully of the crisp days of winter. Cool down as we celebrate Christmas in July and browse the following collectible Christmas favorites.
J. K. Rowling has published a new short story about Harry Potter on her website, Pottermore.com. The story, entitled "Dumbledore's Army Reunites at Quidditch World Cup Final" is written as a gossip column by character Rita Skeeter and describes many of the Harry Potter characters as adults.
On June 27, 1922, Henrik Willem van Loon won the inaugural Newbery Award for The Story of Mankind. A prolific author, van Loon was also a historian and journalist with a keen interest in American history and politics. Van Loon's activity in politics earned him attention from Franklin Delano Roosevelt--and Nazi leaders. A few facts you may not know about van Loon and The Story of Mankind:
Discovering that some of your favorite children’s stories are written by the same author is quite an incredible find. Contemporary classics such as: Jumanji, The Polar Express, and Zathura, to name a few, were all illustrated and written by Chris Van Allsburg.
"Maurice Sendak might faint but a staff member of Caldwell Parish Library, knowing that the patrons of the community might object to the illustrations of The Night Kitchen, solved the problem by diapering the little boys with white tempera paint. Other librarians might wish to do the same."
So ran the entire letter from Caldwell, Louisiana librarian Betty B. Jackson in the December, 1971 issue of School Library Journal. Though the letter was published unedited, the journal's editorial staff placed it under the headline "Three-Cornered Censorship" and opposite a half-page illustration of the "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" image from Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. In this iconic picture, the story's protagonist, Mickey, is depicted au naturel, which is why the book had raised eyebrows at Jackson's library--and in plenty of other places around the country. But negative reactions to the book were later overblown by the press.
