One Winter Morning, We Learnt How To Love!

By Himanshu Nimbhorkar

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Introduction

The best socio-cultural impact is often achieved by making your point without being too on-the-nose about it. Blending in your worldview so seamlessly into the narrative, that those elements exist simply because they have to, simply because it's a norm for you, and that's how it should be in an ideal world.

“One Winter morning, Peter woke up and looked out the window. Snow had fallen during the night. It covered everything as far as he could see.”

‘The Snowy Day’ by Ezra Jack Keats was a pioneer in mainstream children’s literature back in the day. It introduced us to a black character as a child protagonist, an unprecedented move in children’s literature for its time. Diversity and multiculturalism were at its most purest and honest, simply because the character inherently belonged there, not because his race demanded him too (or vice versa). Children’s stories with inclusivity (an extension of humanity) are a way of life.

About Ezra Jack Keats

Keats, born on 11th March 1916; in New York, United States; was a celebrated writer and illustrator of children’s literature. His work has been widely translated across almost all the major spoken languages globally.

Keats turned everything around him into subjects for his drawings since his early childhood. His artistic prowess became known all around, and he continued engaging with it throughout his early adulthood, as he began illustrating extensively. After illustrating for books and publications for years, other than having multiple exhibitions of his illustrated work; Keats began writing his own books.

Works by Keats

‘My Dog is Lost’, a sweet little tale of an eight-year-old Spanish boy, having newly arrived in New York loses his dog, and a havoc ensues. Locals help him reconnect with his furry friend, constituting an adorable and wholesome narrative.

Keats’ most accomplished and talked about work, ‘The Snowy Day’, portrays an African American boy named Peter who witnesses his neighborhood soak in the heavenly beauty of the season’s first snowfall. Also illustrated by Keats himself, the book contains a beautiful collage Artwork.

Peter returned for many more books:

• ‘Peter’s Chair’
• ‘A Letter to Amy’
• ‘Goggles’
• ‘Pet Show’
• And a few more

Retaining the characters’ innocent worldview and an adorable sense of simplicity.

Keats introduced another fun character in his latter series of books. Louie; a quiet, curious, imaginative child; made us journey through some lovely bunch of adventures like:

• ‘Regards to the Man in the Moon’
• ‘Louie’s Search’
• ‘The Trip’
• Etc.

Themes and Legacy

Mundane joys, little moments of happiness, sensorially stimulating elements, inherent cultural diversity, and much more; made it to Keats’ writings book after book, illustration after illustration.

“To me, one of the greatest triumphs in doing a book is to tell the story as simply as possible. My aim is to imply rather than to overstate. Whenever the reader participates with his own