Today, I want to share a quick impromptu post about the book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats. Even though I grew up in a northern climate with snow, I will never forget the first time I had this story read to me. Everything about it was so vivid. I finished it and felt as thought I just had to go out and make the same foot print in the snow. Do you know this book, too? Do you have a book that impacted you so greatly, as a child? I love to collect Caldecott Medal books. Is this something you do, too?
I love to read this book to my English student and before I run out the door to do exactly that, I wanted to share this little story of Ezra Keat's inspiration with you.
In 1940, Life magazine published a short photo essay focused on a little boy in Liberty County, Ga., who was about to undergo a blood test. Keats was struck by the sweet images of the child, and cut the group of photographs out of the magazine. That little boy was the inspiration for Keats' character Peter, the African-American protagonist of The Snowy Day and six books that followed. For more from this interview with Keats, click here: NPR Interview, click here
I'm sending my class home with a link to this read a long video of the book. Click here for video
Happy reading and imagining!
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I grew up in a warm climate and read it for the first time after moving to Minnesota. I make sure to pull it out and read it to my kids every winter!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this. It's just timeless, isn't it.
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