Rating: Summary: Snowy Day, great lesson! Review: I'm a junior in college, studying to be an elementary school teacher. I had to find a Caldecott Medel Winner book to do a lesson for my class. So I chose The Snowy Day. I was able to integrate different disciplines to this book. This story was so helpful for me to use in that it was easy to integrate into different activities. I thought that The Snowy Day gave the students a great introduction to the upcoming season. This lovely story got them excited to think about what their winter can entail. The story was so much fun to read and have the kids predict to me their own ideas. It was also quite nostalgic to read about the events a little child experiences in the snow. I really miss being a kid!
Rating: Summary: A story which reminds us of the wonderfulness of childhood Review: In The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, a small boy relishes in the wonder of a newly fallen snow. This is a simple tale that will hold preschoolers rapt with anticipation of what this beautiful snow will hold for the boy. It is written in a way that pulls children into the story, and helps them imagine and remember their own adventures.
Rating: Summary: Great read for toddlers and older Review: My 20 month old loves this book! He loves to look at the illustrations. The book reads smoothly and is great for bedtime. We love to read it, especially when it really is a snowy day!
Rating: Summary: Keats makes a snowy day seem fun again! Review: On days when TV reporters can't tell us enough of the horrors of snowy days, Ezra Jack Keats reminds children of the magic. With just feet, a stick and some imagination, the book's main character, Peter, creates an adventure to remember! Keats' images last long enough for adults to remember the magic as well.
Rating: Summary: One of my son's favorites Review: The books by Ezra Jack Keats seem to be some of our older son's favorites and this one has been read many times over. I expect our two younger children will come to enjoy it as well.Anytime it snows we always manage to find a stick and a snow covered tree - plop! It is always enjoyable to watch your child take something he has read (or heard) in a book and bring it into his own little world. Fortunately, we have not had to find out what happens to those snowballs when you put them in your pocket and take them inside.
Rating: Summary: Snowed In Review: The illustrations in this book are delightful and examples of images students would be able to produce on their own. They are made with three-dimensional construction paper layering techniques. The story is rather simple and tells about a young boy who awakens one morning to find his entire world covered by a blanket of snow. He then goes out to play in it. When he is getting ready for bed that night, he wonders what happened to the snowball he left in his pocket. The text is fairly easy and could be read and understood by first graders. Younger children may enjoy the story and discussions of snow and weather. All children and many adults as well, could benefit from seeing Keats' art style. Why 3 stars?: This book simply failed to grab the attention of both myself and the several different classrooms of kindergartners through second graders that I read it with. I actually did not find a single child that liked it. I see some positive elements to it, but they won't work if the children don't want to look at it.
Rating: Summary: Lovely, gentle exploration of child's experience with snow. Review: The magic of the first winter snow is realized in the text and illustrations of this 1963 Caldecott winner. Young Peter awakens to the snowy day, and sets out as children do to explore the joys of being a child in the snow. He "plays" with his footprins, makes snow angels, slides down hills, and rounds out a large ball of snow that fits into his pocket as it surely will fit into the next day. But before he gets into bed, Peter discovers that his treasured ball of snow has disappeared. Peter is sad, but the next day brings more new snow and another way to explore it as only a child can.
Rating: Summary: A festive celebration we look forward to each year. Review: The pictures vividly illustrate the pastle colors of blue and pink that accompany each new snowy winter sky.
Rating: Summary: Timeless classic for pre-schoolers. Review: The reader follows the activity of a small boy from wake-up to out-of-doors play and back to bath and bed. The mystery of the missing snowball adds gentle humor. Children delight in the details and enjoy acting out the adventure in pantomine. It happens that the child is not Caucasian, but race is not important to the story, just as it should be! Winner of the Caldecott award for outstanding illustration in 1963 and still fresh.
Rating: Summary: Cultivation of imagination Review: The Snowy Day by Ezra J. Keats is a peek into a young boy's day of playing in the snow. It is set in an urban area, and Peter's imagination is the main factor, which sets the fun in motion. As we watch Peter throughout the day, the reader is made aware of the endless possibilities that a day of play and imagination can provide. This book works through its simple text and its simple illustrations. Peter could be any boy or girl. It is only obvious that he is young. This allows for the ideas to really come front and center. It is also obvious that Peter's imagination is the catalyst for making the snowy day fun and worthwhile. The tracks his feet make in the snow, how a stick can make a snowstorm from a tree, and even how a pile of snow could be a great mountain amuse him. This is a story that could have happened this past winter or even in a winter 50 years ago. Keats' picture book provides images that are comforting and calming. The colors are vibrant and warm. The most dominant are shades of pinks, blues, and yellows. The illustrations are so simplified, like the text, that they guide the reader to really focus in on the activities of playing in the snow, that Peter engages in. The activities of walking in the snow, taking a snowball to bed, and finding a stick in his path, embed the ideas of trust, affection and responsiveness. These are concepts that are associated with play and the innocence of children that have not learned to doubt these inner instincts. I believe this is why Keats' books are so well received and have endured the test of time. Peter's trust is demonstrated by easy way in which he walks out into the street to find a place to play. He is at ease with his environment and comfortable in his surroundings. Peter is responsive the anomalies that are present in his "playground," such as the stick, which he sees as a wonderful toy. Childhood affection is also imbedded in this book, it is seen between Peter and his mother at the end of the day but is best illustrate and reinforced on the last page as Peter departs the next morning, holding the hand of his friend, as they go off together to begin yet another snowy day. The Snowy Day is a wonderful book of love, wonderment, disappointment and surprise. Keats has conquered the world of play, showing it for what it is, unconstrained by the rules of society or culture, left to the devices of a pre-school, pre-molded imagination.
|