The Snowy Day. Written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats. 1962. ISBN: 0-670-65400-0. Winner of the Caldecott Medal. Contemporary Realistic Fiction.
Peter, a young boy is excited when waking up one morning to see that it had snowed the night before. He bundles up to go out and explore the snowy white wonderland. He makes tracks and snow angels and snowmen. He really enjoys himself and at the end of the day hopes that the snow will be there tomorrow. He has a dream that all the snow melts, but when he wakes up, he finds that this isn't true and he is off again to enjoy another snowy day.
The illustrations in this book are fabulous because they seem to be made out of wrapping paper cut outs! The patterns on the paper are so fun, and the snow is a beautiful bright white with blue tints! Growing up in Minnesota, there is no better day than a snow day. Not only does school get canceled, but you get to play outside in the beautiful pristine snow. Snow is wondrous because it seems to give the world around you a clean slate. And there is nothing more beautiful that big flakes of light fluffy snow falling all around.
This book, if used in a class setting, could be great for children to create their own snowy scene out of construction or wrapping papers, much like Keats illustrations. I actually just did this project with a class of first graders, and it turned out so cute. They were all so proud of their created scenes, as each time a new medium for art is introduced, it lets children open up their creative minds even more!
No comments:
Post a Comment