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The Snowy Day (thing)
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(
thing
)
by
junkpile
Thu Nov 16 2000 at 17:20:07
copyright
1962
Ezra Jack Keats
. picture book /
board book
. ages
4
-
7
.
32
pgs.
Such a sweet book. Not much to it - a kid plays around outside after
it's been snowing all night
.
Peter makes a snow angel
, knocks snow from a tree, sees what different types of footprints he can make. What makes some simple books boring, and others good? The artwork is lovely - collage combined with vivid paint - the book won the
1963
Caldecott Medal
for it. The pictures make clear how simply delighted this little boy is.
Today, it's a nice little book. At the time of its publication, it was a much bigger deal, and stirred up some (dumb, needless) controversy. The book's main character is black, which was not at all common in picture books in the early
60s
. The trend still favored white kids in jumpers and blond ringlets. Not only are there no white kids in the book, there aren't any rolling English meadows either - Peter lives in the projects. There's nothing creepy or over-the-top about it - Ezra's point was not to depict a slum, but it's very clearly
an inner-city tenement, made sparkling by snow
.
In the
50s
, Ezra had mostly illustrated the work of other writers. "
There were two things that troubled me at that time:
one was that in many of the manuscripts I was given there was a peculiar quality of
contrivance
and rigid structure; the other was that I never got a story about Black people, Black children. I decided that if I ever did a book on my own it would be more of a happening - certainly not a structured thing, but an experience.
My hero
would be a Black child."
The best part? Ezra was white.
thanks to:
http://www.edupaperback.org/authorbios/Keats_EzraJack.html
www.amazon.com
Weston Woods Studios
Dream Log: July 3, 2002
Caldecott Medal
Fox
Ezra Jack Keats
board book
snow angel
1963
1962
contrivance
32
snow
7
4