Book Title: The Snowy Day
Author & Illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats
Publisher: The Viking Press
Copyright Date: 1962
Genre: Picturebook – Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Brief Annotation: The Snowy Day was born from a Life magazine photograph that caught the eye of Ezra Jack Keats. He held on to that photo of a small African American boy and after twenty-two years of waiting to be asked to write a story about an African American child, Keats decided it was time. In 1962, Keats gave the world the gift of The Snowy Day. Readers, young and old, get to experience all the wonder and excitement of a child’s first snowfall. Keats has created beautiful collage artwork, where the subtle tones and soft lines compliment and enhance the warm, magical tone of the story.
Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5 – I knew of this book, but I don’t have any memories of ever reading this book. I’m so happy the day finally came to sit down and experience this book. I didn’t realize it’s 50 years old! This is such a lovely book worthy of all its praises. It’s amazing how it feels when you are transported in to a picturebook like this – you can almost hear the silence and feel the anticipation and wonder that Peter is experiencing. This book stands on its own 50 years later, but it’s even more special when you read that Keats didn’t write the story with any agenda or expectation – and how he wrote this book when there were no others really featuring African American children. How wonderful that he gave so many children the gift of seeing themselves in a book. If you get a chance, take a peek at the 50th Anniversary Edition – it includes some really fun special bonus material.
Readers who will like this book: Young children and adults will enjoy this book. The artwork draws you in to the pages and keeps you there. I can see little kids mimicking Peter’s first experiences in the snow (making different kinds of tracks in the snow, making snow angels). And adults will get to re-experience and remember what it’s like for children to see and experience snow (or anything new).
Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Why do you think this little boy is looking at his footprints in the snow? What might he be thinking?
Interest Level (age): 4-7
Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 1.9
List awards: Caldecott Medal
Thanks for the tip about the 50th anniversary edition. I've been meaning to check it out, and how you've convinced me to add Snowy Day to my Amazon cart :-)
ReplyDeleteI really love the way your posts reflect your belief that you're writing to real people who will take your recommendations (or questions or suggestions) to heart. It's this approach that I hope everyone will take by using a blog to record our thinking about books.