THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats Book Review

Bibliography

Keats, Ezra Jack.1962. THE SNOWY DAY. New York: The Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-86733-0

Plot Summary

Peter awakes one morning to discover that snow has covered everything in sight. After breakfast Peter slips on his red snowsuit and runs outside. He makes tracks in the snow and hits snow off the branches of trees. Peter uses his imagination as he makes a snowman and snow angles and even slides down a mountain of snow. At the end of the day Peter returns home to tell his mother of his adventures and takes a nice warm bath. The next day Peter calls a friend from across the hall and they go out for an adventure together.

Critical Analysis

Keats's created beautiful tranquil illustrations in THE SNOWY DAY. He used cut-outs, watercolors, and collage to depict the calmness and silence of the freshly fallen snow on a winter day. The little boy in the red snowsuit, Peter, enjoys his day experimenting with footprints, knocking snow from a tree, creating snow angels, and trying to save a snowball for the next day. Readers young to old will easily relate to the simplicity of being outside all day in the snow until the body becomes cold from head to toe. Then coming in to a warm house and relaxing in a warm bath. Readers in warm climates will find themselves wanting to be Peter and experience the snow for themselves. Keats’ uses contrasting colors such as warm reds, oranges, and pinks against cool blues and purples to highlight the focus on each page.

 

Review Excerpts

1963 Caldecott Medal: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Publishers Weekly, “Now in a sturdy board-book format just right for youngest readers, Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day, winner of the 1963 Caldecott Medal, pays homage to the wonder and pure pleasure a child experiences when the world is blanketed in snow.”

Connections

*Show students the Caldecott award-winning book, The Snowy Day. Explain that this book won a special award for its illustrations. Discuss how the illustrations are created. Ask students what they believe makes an award-winning illustration.

*Help student to create their own paper, as Ezra Jack Keats did.

*Create a book allowing each child to contribute a page. Students could share their own favorite snowy day adventure complete with an illustration of themselves in the famous red snowsuit. 

Images from http://hubpages.com/slide/Snowy_Day/606659