The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Bibliography:

Keats , Ezra Jack. The Snowy Day. New York: Viking Press, 1962. ISBN 0670654000

Plot Summary:

A young boy named Peter awakens in the morning to find that snow has fallen during the night. He spends his day playing in snow, making footprints and stick marks in the snow.  He sees some older boys having a snowball fight but feels too young to play along so he makes snow angels and a snowman. He climbs banks of snow and slides down pretending to be a mountain climber.  He even makes snowballs, which he puts in his pockets to save for the next day.  He returns to his warm home where he tells his mother about his adventures, takes a hot bath, goes to sleep an dreams that the sun melted all the snow.  But when he awakens the next day, the snow is still there and he invites his friend from across the hall to join him and they go back out to play in the snow some more.

Critical Analysis:

The book is notable in that it features as it's main character an African-American boy, even though his race is never mentioned in the book.  Published in 1962, this was a quietly revolutionary book in including an African-American in a story as the main character in a book that was not about race.  The story is a simple one, simply a boy playing in the snow alone, but it must have been wonderful for young African-Americans to see themselves portrayed for one of the first times in a book.

Keats artwork is unique and inviting.  Using a collage technique of paper and cloth and paint, he creates a child's-eye view of a snowy day in the city with the illustrations seeming to be from Peter's point of view with background generally extending only to the world in which Peter is playing, or to his home.  The artwork lends an almost surreal nature to the activity, as if nothing existed but Peter, the snow, and the things he encounters.  This seems to be exactly as a child would see such a day.

Review Excerpts:

goodreads: "No book has captured the magic and sense of possibility of the first snowfall better than The Snowy Day."

Caldecott Medal Winner - 1962

Connections:

Useful for starting discussions about race in children's literature.

Explore the collage method used by Keats and help children create their own collages to illustrate their own stories, or alternate collages to illustrate this story.

Discuss with children how they feel about the artwork in book, and ask how they would illustrate their own book.

Allows children to explore city life and how it is the same or different from their lives.

Note that Peter is African-American and ask children if Peter's ethnicity makes any difference to their enjoyment or reaction to the book.