Ezra Jack Keats: A Biography With Illustrations

Rating:
Summary: Much more than a snowy day
Review: Let us all sit back for a moment and pay silent tribute to the great biographies of children's writers out there today. Heck, let's go so far as to name them too. Why there's "Ezra Jack Keats" by Dean Engel and Florence B. Freedman and then there's... um... well.... hm. All right, I'll simplify the request. Let's all sit back for a moment and pay silent tribute to the ONLY great biography of a children's writer out there (written specifically with kid readers in mind). And that would be the aforementioned "Ezra Jack Keats". Seeing it on the New York Public Library's list of 100 Children's Books Everyone Should Know, I felt a twinge guilty that I'd never even heard of the book before. So I was plenty reluctant about reading it. I mean, yes I understand the groundbreaking nature of his "Snowy Day" and I've always had an incredible respect for "Louie", "Goggles", and "Apt. 3", but let's be serious here. How interesting could this book actually be? We're not talking about someone who went out and climbed mountains or fought wild woolly snaggle-toothed wildebeests. We're talking about a simple author/illustrator. "Ezra Jack Keats" was, to my mind, going to be a long hard slog. Instead, it was light, fascinating, sad, and inspiring. Everything, in fact, that a good biography about such a man should be.

Born Jack Ezra Katz in 1916, Ezra was fond of drawing right from the get-go. He'd find any abandoned burlap or piece of wood he could get his hands on so that he could draw and paint. His father thought this to be a waste of talent, but Ezra was good. The book identifies those critical moments in Ezra's young life that determined what kind of person he would be. There was the time he ran away from home and ended up getting semi-mugged by the local bullies. The time he had a brief theological conversation with Tzadik, the local reclusive holy man. The time he discovered the library, and the time he made a lifelong friend named Itz. The book also looks at how he eventually grew up and became the children's illustrator he's remembered as today. But mostly this is the formation of an artist as a young man. The incidents within a family and a life that made him who he was.

Now the book was written, partly, by Florence Freedman (any relation to Russell, I wonder?) who was Ezra's teacher in high school. But I suspect the real writing credit should fall on Dean Engel herself. In many ways, Engel has extended the average hum-drum children's book into a real work of beauty. Take, for example, this section that discusses Ezra's newfound friendship with his scientifically minded friend Itz. In this section Ezra would teach Itz about colors and artistic expression and Itz would teach Ezra about the science behind the beauty. For example: "He also explained how, before it dies, a lieaf stands upright on its branch for just a moment and then, with no air to support it, flutters to the ground". I've picked out this sentence in the book because I feel it's absolutely lovely to read. One of those little moments of reflection too often lacking in the soulless biographies kids are forced to read every year. This book is different. It dares to say something beautiful in the midst of fact fact facts.

Some of the problems criticized by professional reviewers are a twinge off-base. For example, the School Library Journal review pointed out that this book hasn't any endnotes. Then again, all information that might have been placed in an Endnote section is located in the About the Author's section on the back bookflap. And the criticism that this book hasn't a bibliography is just downright wrong. There is a bibliography of Keats' written and illustrated books. Just not the ones he drew for other people. The criticism given by Booklist that the random illustrations paired with moments in Keats' life don't always match up is somewhat correct. Still, it isn't particularly distracting and many times works particularly well.

"Ezra Jack Keats" the biography is faboo. It's well-written, has a great subject to examine, and belongs on every child's reading list. In the course of following a single man it covers history, art, and the course of a life. Ezra Jack Keats made an amazing contribution to children's literature. His expertise cannot be downplayed. Hence, this book is a fitting tribute to such a man.