The Bottom Line: A good book choice to read to young ones. Simple words and the kinds of activities talked about that any child living in snowy weather can relate to.
Prepoia's Full Review: Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day
Unlike many of you, who probably read this story or had it read to you as a child, I was first introduced to it about fifteen years ago while attending college. It was one of the highly recommended children’s books by the professor. Most Caldecott winners were included in this class study of Children’s Literature and we studied them as part of the holy grail of teaching and also what to look for in good children’s literature and picture books. The emphasis on this book was the illustrations by Keats. While I found it interesting to see how Keats’ illustrations are easily recognizable, (they are also simple drawings with lots of color and texture), I was more interested in the concepts of using The Snowy Day with children. Most of the class stated that they “loved” this story when they were children. My own children were too old to enjoy the book so I had to wait awhile before I could use it with children.
Since then, I have used it in the classroom (while I substituted in lower elementary grades) and with my nieces and nephews.
The Story
The story doesn’t have a lot of meat to it. By that I mean that there aren’t any morals to be learned and the author wasn’t trying to present a learning experience for the reader. It is merely the story of a little boy who goes out to play on a snowy day. The story begins:
”One winter morning Peter woke up
and looked out the window. Snow
had fallen during the night. It covered
everything as far as he could see.
On one side is a picture and on the adjoining side the text.
After breakfast, Peter goes outside. The story talks about the things he sees (like, snow piled up very high along the street to make a path for walking). It describes snow sounds, such as crunch, crunch, crunch and the footprints he makes when walking. Peter then finds a stick and hits at the snow on the tree overhead and the snow plops down on his head.
He thinks that it would be fun to join the big boys in their snowball fight, but knows that he isn’t old enough-not yet. So he makes a snowman and angels. He slides down a hill of snow while pretending it was a mountain. He put a snowball in his pocket to save until tomorrow and goes home to his warm house. Once home, he tells his mother all about his adventures while she removes his wet socks. He then takes a warm bath and thinks about the adventures some more. When he gets out he checks his pocket to look at the snowball and feels sad because it isn’t there anymore. He goes to sleep, wakes up, and though he dreamed the snow was gone finds that new snow is falling.
The story ends with, “After breakfast he called to his friend from across the hall, and they went out together into the deep, deep snow.”
As you can tell from the quoted excerpts above, kid are able to read this book themselves when they are beginning readers (I’d say about 2nd grade for an average, maybe 3rd without help for the larger vocabulary words.) It also makes a great “read it to them” story for younger kids.
So how did this simply worded book become an award-winning book? Good question and all that I can do is speculate on the reasons. The main thing that ties the reasons together is when the book was written. It won its award in l963. This was a time in history when African-Americans did not have prominent places in children’s literature. There were a lot of movements to elevate the status of works by African-American authors. This could have been a book and an author that became one of the causes and elevated. I do not denigrate the author or the book in any way when I say this. It is a fact, however, that awards that are given are often politically motivated by the times and issues taking place.
Another issue could be that there were few stories that were/and are written with African-American children as the main character. This was a wonderful book to use in areas that were highly populated with African-Americans to give them models to read about and follow. Please remember the time period we are speaking of when considering my analysis. Thirty-five years ago, many attitudes were different and society, as a whole, was a lot more race conscious.
The instructor in the class I took analyzed it on a different (but race related basis). She stated that many white children did not have a lot of experience with African-Americans and that this book added to the concepts of acceptance and knowledge. White kids learned that African-Americans weren’t very different from themselves in their play and their families. She stated that many children ask why Peter is colored dark. I don’t know about that because I wasn’t using the book with kids back then. What I do know is that when reading this book to white children today, not one mentions the race of Peter.
The other possible reasons are that the very simplicity of the activities appealed to children and the award givers. I for one have used this book to encourage writing a children’s story with my older students and for some of the other ones they love to use this as a “show and tell” story starter of their own winter experiences with snow here in Michigan. If the theme is snow, this book is a great one to share with kids. Children from places that don’t experience this winter occurrence will enjoy the “learning what it’s like” aspect of the story. I read this book to the nieces of my sister-in-law who is from Puerto Rico, when they visited one year, and they were fascinated enough to run out and make the snow angels.
Do I Recommend This Book?
Yes. If you are looking for a book that inspires values and reinforces lessons you are teaching at home or if you are going to purchase it because you think it must be a fascinating story because of the award, then don’t buy it. But, if you are looking for a nice winter story to read to your young children or if you’d like to find some new books for your young readers to read, this is a well-written and nicely illustrated book to choose.
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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