The Snowy Day [SEP] illustrator
The Snowy Day
The Snowy Day is a 1962 children's picture book by American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. Keats received the 1963 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in the book. It features a boy named Peter exploring his neighborhood after the first snowfall of the season. The inspiration for Peter came from a "Life" magazine photo article from 1940, and Keats' desire to have minority children of New York as central characters in his stories. Peter appears in six more books, growing from a small boy in
, Keats was soon commissioned to illustrate children’s books.
Keats started solely as an illustrator for the work of other authors. But he soon observed that few children's books showcased an African-American or other minority child as the main character. Published in 1962, "The Snowy Day" was the second book Keats both authored and illustrated (the first was "My Dog Is Lost", in 1960, co-authored by Patt Cherr, which featured a recently arrived Puerto Rican boy, Juanity), and