sj1and0's Full Review: Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day
1962 was a momentous year. In that year, James Meredith was escorted by Federal Marshals to register as the first black student at the University of Mississippi. Roy Wilkens, The executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) gave props to the then U.S.A. President, John F. Kennedy for his role in advancing civil rights. Martin Luther King was convicted of minor offenses in Albany, Georgia after attempting to desegregate that city and was sentenced to a jail term of 45 days. Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Algeria became independent.
The art world had it's moments in that year as well. Polydor released The Beatles' first record, My Bonnie featuring Tony Sheridan. Jim Carrey and John P. Kee were born. John Steinbeck won the Nobel Peace prize for literature. This was also the year that The Snow Day by Ezra Jack Keats was published.
Keats was born Jacob Ezra "Jack" Katz to Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy. His parents were Polish immigrants of Jewish descent living in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York. It was just after World War II when in reaction to the anti-Semitic prejudices of the time that his name was legally changed to Ezra Jack Keats.
Ezra was gifted in art from a very young age. He worked as a comic book illustrator on the staff of Fawcett Publications, illustrating backgrounds for Captain Marvel comic books and also gained experience at easel painting. He started illustrating children's book in 1954 and started writing his own children's books in 1960. His first book was entitled My Dog is Lost with the main character being Juanito, a young Hispanic boy who doesn't speak any English, just Spanish.
"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?" - J.B. Priestley
The Snowy Day is a 25 page board book that enhances cultural diversity as a positive force. The hero of the story is Peter, a young African-American boy inspired by a Life magazine photo strip from 1940. Keats introduced multiculturalism into the flow of American children's literature.
He illustrated the simple pleasures of a child and gave light to the different things you can do in the snow. When we see snow we think about having to clean it later. Snow is what mellows out the atmospheres and wipes out the germs to kind of renew the air that is being thrown at us. A kid sees snow as a reason to go outside and play. When first fallen and compiled, it is such a beautiful sight to see. Some people complain about cold weather and snow. Ezra Jack Keats looks at the brighter side of it bringing to life the fun things that a person can do in it.
As a bibliophilist, this book caught my eye because of the cover art. The cover art features the hero of the story, Peter, dressed in his red snow gear and he was out playing in the snow. He was a boy of color and he was shown in a light never seen before in American Literature. For a book released in 1962, it showed how things were changing in a much segregated society. It showed that despite the hatred that surfaced, there was still innocence that dwelled regardless of color. It seemed as if it would have been a great leaflet of children's literature and I immediately grabbed it with hope that my nephew would one day find the joys in reading this classic masterpiece.
The book is filled with a simplicity of words and a fine economy of visual representation that corresponded to the ingredients featured in the literature. He used subtle colors to illustrate the ideas a snowy day by showing an urban scape with snow piled up very high along the street. He illustrated Peter playing in sparkling atmospheres in a unique manner. For instance, Keats wrote crunch, crunch, crunch, his feet sank into the snow. He walked with his toes pointing out like this: and with volumes of color and texture points to the imagery of foot tracks in the snow.
Keats compiled subleties of thought with water paint splashes that had an almost oil-like glaze. He used limitless scenery to depict images of Peter making snow angels, sliding down a hill of snow, having a snowball fight and then adds humor with Peter saving a snowball in his pocket and not knowing where it went. He was a fine literary artists and a wonderful author of children's books.
The Snowy Day won the Caldecott Medal. The Caldecott Medal is an award which is given annually by the Association for Library Service to Children to the artist who creates the most celebrated American picture book for children published that year. Peter became such a notable character that he became the hero in six more of Keats' books. Others include A Letter To Amy, Peter's Chair, Goggles, Hi Cat and Pet Show. The Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn, NY created an imagination playground based on the characters from Keats’s books which features a centerpiece of a bronze statue of Peter, reading the book The Snowy Day while sitting on a rock, with one hand on his pet dog Willie, and his little chair close by.
This book has captured the hearts of people all over the world. It is a wonderful children's book with lots of life dwelling within it's pages. Peter is shown living a normal life as a child and enjoying his childhood. He outweighs the differences of whether he should go join in a snowball fight with much older kids or if he should back down and do something else like slide down snow hills. It shows him dreaming of the sun and interacting with friends. And Keats does it in the simplest way. He uses short stanzas on each page with illustrations to sort of marionette the words into the heart of the book worm. I truly appreciate his contribution to the literary society and coin this book as a classic.
No book has captured the magic and sense of possibility of the first snowfall better than The Snowy Day. Universal in its appeal, the story has become...More at HotBookSale
In this book sparkling with atmosphere, a small boy experiences the joys of a snowy day. The brief, vividly expressed text points out his new awarenes...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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