The Snowy Day

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

In The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, Peter wakes up to discover that snow has fallen during the night. He celebrates this day by putting on his red snow suit and goes on an adventure as he walks through the snow and admires his footprints, knocks snow from a tree, makes snow men and snow angels, and climbs snow mountains. He saves a snowball in his pocket as a souvenir and dreams that the snow disappears only to be surprised with the snow still falling the next day.

This story is simple and told effectively in a few words. The illustrations consist of cut-outs, varied textures, strong watercolors, geometric shapes, and collages. The end-pages contain multi-color snowflakes and sponge-like water colors in which those exact colors and designs appear on the snow banks in every page in the story. In many of the pictures, Peter lacks facial features except his eyes, but we can see the angle of Peter's head to convey feeling. The cut-outs of the snow makes you almost feel the cold winter air and sense the still silence of the snow.

According to Horn Book magazine, this was "the very first full-color picture book to feature a small black hero", which is why this story was the winner of the 1963 Caldecott Medal. It is centered on a universal theme, where Peter, an African American boy, enjoys a winter day just like any other kid. Everyone, all ages, on one level or another can relate to Peter's magical snowy day.