Peter conquers the world around him, making his own mark, not allowing the environment, and by relation, his society, to keep him penned in. For example, the colors are bright and vibrant, which contrasts with the heavy proportion of the white snow banks. The streets were his playground, the residents his friends, which were then interpreted and emphasized in his illustrations. Empathetic to children of different backgrounds and races, he was able to find a commonality amongst those experiencing hardships and racism that at times played out in his own personal experiences. Keats, a child of immigrant Polish parents, was raised in a predominantly Jewish area of East New York. His character, inspired by a newspaper clipping of an AfricanĪmerican boy he saw in Life magazine, published on May 13, 1940, fits into a familiar city landscape that coincides with his own childhood in the streets of Brooklyn. As the first full-color picture book to feature an African American protagonist (Berger 30), Keats puts the issue front and center by placing Peter in a spot of importance. The cover art for The Snowy Day focuses on a small boy overlooking his footprints in the snow. While you could explore different cultures and countries at the turn of a page, you could also discover something new in your own backyard. Therefore, it had the ability to influence the past but also future generation in a way that connected on a familiar level. Picture books had an opportunity to be acquired by families that encompassed a wide range of ages and social classes. In addition, putting an emphasis on the artwork helps children learn that there are different ways of presenting information” (Hellman 6). A visual representation that would be distributed among millions, the picture book “provides information about other lands and other peoples in a more palatable way than a textbook or even a National Geographic magazine. While this representation was seen in various formats, Keats then had a rare opportunity to combat this image with his chosen form, the picture book. When African American characters were depicted, they were “most often represented as regressive and stereotypical-fools, clowns, servants, and dim-witted boys and girls meant to entertain white people and play to their prejudices” (Berger 31). Any minority group was sparingly seen and at times heavily misrepresented. However, the content depicted was most often white-centered. Media also focused heavily on young viewers during that time. These interests were depicted most frequently through print and television. Kennedy was President, the space race was heating up, war continued in Vietnam, and the idea of racial equality spread in a climate used to segregation and color distinctions. This exploration of one’s environment is a timeless moment frozen during a shifting world that allowed the picture book to tell a beautiful story, but in a more honest depiction of the current world state.Īmerica during the 1960s was rife with racial struggle. Peter, the protagonist of the story, explores the snow that has fallen overnight in his city landscape, and carves his own pathway as he discovers its joys and fleeting qualities. Written in 1962, Keats’s work proved that racial diversity could be successful in mainstream publishing. Ezra Jack Keats’s picture book, A Snowy Day came onto the scene at a time when picture books needed a push forward to reflect the culture and social climate of the moment. Not only has the medium and the format been explored, but the content has evolved to reflect the changing social consciousness. The modern picture book has come a long way.
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