{"id":31964,"date":"2017-01-14T22:57:44","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T02:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31964"},"modified":"2017-01-14T22:57:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T02:57:44","slug":"review-of-a-poem-for-peter-by-andrea-davis-pinkney-pictures-by-lou-fancher-steve-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31964","title":{"rendered":"Review of A Poem for Peter, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, pictures by Lou Fancher & Steve Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Poem for Peter<\/p>\n

The Story of EZRA JACK KEATS and the Creation of THE SNOWY DAY<\/em><\/p>\n

by Andrea Davis Pinkney<\/p>\n

pictures by Lou Fancher & Steve Johnson<\/p>\n

Viking, 2016. 52 pages.
\nStarred Review
\n2016 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #3 Children’s Nonfiction<\/p>\n

This is a picture book biography — in poetry form. And the narrative poem is written addressing Peter, the hero of the classic picture book The Snowy Day.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve got all the details of Ezra Jack Keats’ life. His parents were immigrants from Poland, and he grew up in Brooklyn, knowing about poverty and discrimination. Even as a child, he wanted to be an artist, and his father found ways to get him paints. There are a couple of special pages when he discovered the Brooklyn Public Library.<\/p>\n

It tells about the art scholarship he won and had to give up when his father died of a heart attack, then about his struggles finding work during the Depression — eventually getting to work as an artist with the Works Progress Administration. Then he served in World War II, but after the war had to change his name from Jacob Ezra Katz to sound less Jewish in order to get work.<\/p>\n

When Ezra started writing and illustrating picture books, he’d noticed there weren’t many picture book scenes like those in his Brooklyn neighborhood, nor many children who looked like his neighbors.<\/p>\n

I especially like the pages when Peter is created and the book is born.<\/p>\n

Peter, child,
\nyou brought your stick.
\nYes, you did.
\nSmack-smacked at a tree.
\nSome say you were whacking
\nat ice-packed intolerance,
\nshaking it loose from narrow-
\nminded branches.<\/p>\n

When prejudice fell,
\nyou rolled it, packed it,
\nput its snowball in your pocket
\nof possibility,
\nwhere it melted away.<\/p>\n

Peter and Ezra,
\nyou made a great team.
\nTogether you brought a snowstorm
\nof dreams.
\nA blizzard of imagination.
\nFlurries of fun!<\/p>\n

And soon readers called for
\nmore of where are you?<\/em>
\nAnd between you two,
\nthe one-of-a-kind snowflakes
\nkept falling.
\nOnto sweet pages
\nof brown-sugar good.<\/p>\n

More neighborhood friends.
\nMore books with kids who
\nanswered where are you?<\/em>
\nwith here we are!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The art is lovely as well, with many images of Peter straight out of Ezra Jack Keats’ work and lovely snowflake pictures, as well as a variety of images illustrating Ezra’s life.<\/p>\n

penguin.com\/YoungReaders<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/poem_for_peter.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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