The snowy day and the art of Ezra Jack Keats

Keats's Caldecott-winning story about a boy's wintertime exploration of his neighborhood turns 50 in 2012; this fascinating examination of Keats and his oeuvre, complete with 80 full-color reproductions, coincides with the first major U.S. exhibition devoted to his work, which opens at New York City's Jewish Museum in September. Nahson, curator at the Jewish Museum, writes that The Snowy Day reflected Keats's interest in "rendering visible what has hitherto been invisible to his audience, be that an inner-city child, a message graffitied on a wall, or a dilapidated building." Her essay joins one from historian/art critic Maurice Berger that makes abundantly clear the book's societal importance. "As a tentative Peter stepped out into his first snowfall, confronting the relentless whiteness of his urban environment, his journey served as a metaphor of Keats's own imperative to introduce blackness into a cultural milieu that saw little reason to include it." (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In 1962, when Keats's The Snowy Day landed on book shelves, it became an immediate favorite of children and adults alike, received accolades from critics and reviewers, and was awarded the 1963 Caldecott Medal. The first full-color picture book to feature an African-American protagonist, the title placed Peter in that heightened hierocracy of children's book characters (Madeline, Eloise, Max) whose images need no further introduction. Nahson has brought together an inviting, informative, and charming (in all the right ways) book to coordinate with the exhibition, "The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats," at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Accompanying Nahson's preface and essay, "Bringing the Background to the Foreground, or the Poetry of a Trash Can," is a piece by Maurice Berger, who traces Keats's background, civil-rights advocacy, and influence on the children's literature field. Thirty-one beautifully produced plates, which appear in the current exhibition, showcase Keats's innovative and exemplary illustrations. Throughout, this offering reflects a choice of high-quality paper and care in the printing process. Following the New York show, the exhibition will travel to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and the Akron Art Museum in Ohio. Handsome and readable, this volume is a joy from endpaper to endpaper. Libraries will want to have copies available for art and classroom teachers, students of children's literature, parents, and youngsters themselves to browse through and explore.-Barbara Elleman, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.