Ezra Jack Keats: Visionary

Last week I stopped to get some postage stamps. As always, the display showed a wide variety of beautiful stamps available for purchase. I’ve always liked stamps, and in the past couple of years, there have been some stellar subjects to selection from. Imagine my joy when I saw Peter of The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, playing in the snow. A children’s book on stamps? Oh yeah, those were the ones for me.

I love Ezra Jack Keats books for the same reason I love The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton.

I grew up and learned to read in the Dick and Jane era. In those books, the world was perfect. The children wore nice, church-type clothes, even when they were playing outside. They had shiny new toys, and never got into trouble. The grass was manicured and the houses were perfect. I thought that was the way of the world, except for in my neighborhood.

I grew up in a marginalized neighborhood on the edge of town. We changed out of our school clothes and put on old clothes to play in when we got home. Our toys were new at Christmas time and on our birthdays. The “lawns” were really not much more than weeds that were mowed to grass length. All the dads worked hard and the moms stayed home, but none of the houses in our neighborhood were beautiful or perfect. And I didn't realize it at the time,  I just was a kid, but I lived in a mixed race neighborhood, too,like Peter. 

A scene from Goggles! by Ezra Jack Keats

Ezra Jack Keats introduced me to Peter’s neighborhood and it was worse than mine. Peter lived and played in a run-down part of a big city. Pollution and graffiti were a part of Peter’s world.  I loved the stories, because, even though Peter lived in a less-than-desirable place, he still had friends and adventures and problems that needed solved. He was kind and thoughtful and I could relate to him.

Now that I'm older, I realize what a visionary E.J. Keats was. His main character was a boy of color in the turbulent early 1960’s!  He also broached subjects that other children’s authors, at the time, did not.

Louie is mesmerized by Gussie, 
the green puppet.
Image courtesy of Goodreads.com

In his book, Louie, a little boy does not speak. Ever. The other children shy away from him because he's different. But then something magical happens. When Louie shows his love of a puppet named Gussie, the other children realize Louie is like them and needs is a friend,too.

In Goggles, Peter and his best friend, Archie, have to outsmart the neighborhood big boys (aka bullies) to get back a prized possession.

Of course Keats’ stories delight, too. Such is the joy in the peace and beauty of new-fallen snow, or learning to help out with a new baby sister, or taking your pet to a pet show and winning a prize, or learning how to whistle for your dog. Good stuff.

Look who just arrived in the mail!

Go out today and get your very own Snowy Day stamps- and have a child-like day!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine