The Snowy Day attracted criticism for this very same reason.īarbara Bader refers to The Snowy Day as “color-blind” in the sense that it emphasizes similarities between races rather than difference: “In The Snowy Day (1962), Ezra Jack Keats’s joyous celebration of boyhood in winter, the race of lively, bronw-skinned Peter doesn’t matter, is immatierial”. He decided to make a Black boy the star of his own story, with young Black readers in mind.Īs a result, The Snowy Day was immediately remarkable as a rare picture book starring a Black child, and without the story being about his blackness. Keats realised how few Black children appeared in picture books, except as ‘token blacks in the background’. Keats was inspired to create this story after cutting a magazine strip of photos from a Life magazine issued in 1940. The Snowy Day was the first book featuring an African American child to win the Caldecott Medal for excellence in children’s picture books. As a result, the story has faced intense scrutiny. I usually say more about the fictional setting of a picture book, but in this case there’s more to say about the cultural context of America in the midst of a Civil Rights Movement. This reflects the inner landscape of Peter, who is overwhelmed by the magnificence of the day. So I compromise on a 6/10.The story itself is a realistic one, though Keats chose collage to create a hyperbolic landscape in which the snowy mountains are impossibly high. BUT had i not read the original, i would give this story a 9/10. But it falls short of what the original was, ironically by adding too much in- 3/10. But it's still a good message, so i still like the movie and will let my kids watch it. The message added in seems forced because it is shoehorned in. If I had a nickel for every time 'MAC AND CHEESE' was said. Why can't we (just) have a story about a sweet little black boy exploring the wonder of snow? Because this is what the book was-and it was excellent, did i mention?! I understand you might have had to be more creative on the length, but really, the original story was totally crowded out. But: if you're adding in characters, why not add in the boy's father? Why does his friend have to be white? I don't want to draw conclusions- but come on. Although i appreciate there is also an Arabic man and an Asian woman in as well as other children of color. With that in mind I understand why some, like myself, might be annoyed that there are several (very) white (and inexplicably, very jewish) characters added in. Snowy Day was one of the first books published about a black child/family in the US.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats