Randolph Caldecott and John Newbery both made significant contributions to children's literature, but another figure gave us the volume that is arguably the best known children's book of the nineteenth century. Dr. Heinrich Hoffman wrote Der Struwwelpeter in 1841, and the book rapidly became a hit. Fifty years later, it would draw the attention of Mark Twain, whose own translation of the book would not be published until 35 years after Twain's death.
Prolific author Lyman Frank Baum wrote a total of 55 novels, in addition to four books that were lost before publication. Baum is best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was an immediate success and inspired the iconic movie The Wizard of Oz. The film has eclipsed the books in popular culture, overshadowing even the life of its creator. But Baum was a truly fascinating character!
It is a world of sheer magic where fairies caper, pirates menace, and mermaids beguile. For visiting children, the danger of adulthood is cast away and replaced with adventures and marvels. Since its invention over a century ago, Neverland, created by Sir James Matthew Barrie in Peter Pan, has captured the imagination of children and adults alike. Although Neverland and its occupants seem entirely fanciful, Barrie was inspired by a number of true people and events.
Wilhelm Grimm, the younger of the famous Grimm Brothers, was born on February 24, 1786 in Hanau, Germany. From his earliest days until his death he and his elder brother Jacob Grimm would remain the dearest of friends. They were in fact only two of the nine children that Phillip and Dorthea Grimm had between the years of 1783 and 1795, but they grew up sharing a bed and shared all their belongings throughout their lives.
The simple act of reading a story with your child is a powerful one. But simple words on texts are not enough on their own; the most enduring children's stories pair wonderful stories with compelling illustrations. Thus, children's illustrators are just as important as children's authors.
One of the greatest English illustrators of the 19th century, Randolph Caldecott was born on March 22, 1846, in Chester, England. He was the third child of John and Mary Caldecott and took an interest in drawing animals at a young age. He finished school by age 15 and started working for Whitchurch & Ellesmere Bank. In his free time between clients, he would ride his horse along the countryside. These rides would spark a newfound interest in hunting, which would influence his nature drawings. Illustrated London News (1861) was the first to publish one of Caldecott’s sketches. He depicted a fire at the Queen Railway Hotel both with words and an illustration.
"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." -Wilson Bentley (1925)
The first book chosen for the Caldecott Medal as the “most distinguished picture book for children” is titled Animals of the Bible, introduction by Helen Dean Fish, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop.
Helen Dean Fish was born on February 7, 1889 in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. She attended Wesley College, where she graduated in 1912. After graduation, she taught at a private school for girls in Asheville, North Carolina. She continued her graduate studies at Radcliffe College to study playwriting. She was hired by Fredrick A. Stoke’s publishing company in 1917, where she would work at for the rest of her life. Fish started out as a manuscript reader, however, several years later she was made the company’s first children’s book editor. Some of her greatest accomplishments include editing Story of Doctor Dolittle (Hugh Lofting, 1920), When the Root Children Wake Up (Sybille von Olfer, 1906), and mentoring Loris Lenski—author of Strawberry Girl (1945) and awarded the Newbery Medal in 1946.
Today at a convention in Philadelphia, the American Library Association announced the winners of the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal. Kate DiCamillo won the Newbery for a second time, while Brian Floca took home this year's Caldecott.
Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, always denied that the characters in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) were based on real people. But the author traveled in relatively tight social and academic circles; he likely obscured his inspirations both for his own sake and for the sake of his associates. Dodgson's first tale of Alice was actually a yarn he spun for three little girls and later wrote down. The original story clearly contained harmless inside jokes that gently poked fun at people in the girls' lives. Dodgson's stories are much more personal than he let on, and scholars still speculate about the real people and events that may have inspired him.
