Celebrating Ezra Jack Keats and the Snowy Day

A Literary package for young and old --

Ezra Jack Keats's iconic picture book The Snowy Day must be on every child's book shelf.  Now comes a wonderful book about the persistence and ambitions of the author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats.

Ezra Jack Keats book was first published in 1962 and was the 1963 winner of that year's Caldecott Award.  The main character was a boy named Peter who made his debut in this story about a snowy day.  Keats's collages were superbly executed and were enhanced with paper marbleized with an oil paint and water technique.


Now over fifty years later Andrea David Pinkney has featured Keats in this book that details the evolution of the book that was inspired by a New York Times magazine photo (circa 1949) of a little boy in Harlem.  That boy became the prototype for Peter.  Peter appeared in six more books.  Read more about this book on NPR.

In 2017 the United States Post Office is releasing this set of Snowy Day stamps.  Add a knitted hat and mitten set and you'll have a gift package that will please parents and child

References:

Keats, Ezra Jack.  (1962) The Snowy Day.  Viking.

Neary, Lynn. (2016 December 1) 'A Poem for Peter' Recalls One Unforgettable 'Snowy Day." NPR: Author Interview.  (WEB) http://www.npr.org/2016/12/01/503861046/a-poem-for-peter-recalls-one-unforgettable-snowy-day.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis.  (2016) A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy Day.  Illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Viking Books for Young Readers.

United States Postal Service.  The Snowy Day Stamps.  Issued 2017.