Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury [Hardcover]

Ezra Jack Keats (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Ezra Jack Keats Treasury

Ezra Jack Keats is widely acknowledged as one of the first people to feature realistic, friendly, multi-ethnic urban settings in his picture books-forever changing the landscape of children's literature in the process. Now this beautiful collection brings together nine of his best-loved stories, including the 1963 Caldecott Medal-winning book The Snowy Day and Caldecott Honor book Goggles!, plus Whistle for Willie, Peter's Chair, Apt. 3, and others. Also included is artwork from an unfinished picture book, The Giant Turnip, published here for the very first time. An introduction by celebrated critic of children's literature Anita Silvey outlines Keats's career and inimitable contributions. In addition, five of the most important writers and illustrators working in the field today share their thoughts on Keats and the legacy he left behind. An afterword describes his incredible life, from his childhood in Brooklyn to children's book legend.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury pays tribute to the life and work of the celebrated children's book creator. An introduction by Anita Silvey puts his books in the context of their time; illustrators such as Jerry Pinkney and Simms Taback describe the influence of Keats's work on children's books in general or their own in particular; and the attractively designed volume concludes with a brief biography. The work offers 10 complete stories (the trim size slightly enlarged from the original) including the Caldecott Medal-winning The Snowy Day (1962); Goggles! (1969), a Caldecott Honor book; and other favorites, such as Whistle for Willie (1964) and Peter's Chair (1967), plus sketches from The Turnip Seed, which Keats was working on at the time of his death in 1983. Photographs, original sketches and drafts round out the presentation.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983) grew up in Brooklyn and spent most of his life in New York City.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670035866
• ISBN-13: 978-0670035861
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 10.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the real thing, April 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury (Hardcover)

This book was a real disappointment. Keats's stories are good, but it's his illustrations that make him so wonderful. This book takes his illustrations and shrinks them down -- two , sometimes three, full-page illustrations crammed on one page. And my favorite picture from The Snowy Day didn't even make it in.

I had expected this to be the complete stories, but it's not. You would do better to buy the individual books than to buy this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for classrooms, January 20, 2007

By 

J. Benner (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury (Hardcover)

I'm a pre-k teacher and I bought this book as part of a unit we're doing on Ezra Jack Keats. It has all the Peter stories, plus a copy of the picture of the child who inspired Peter. One thing to know is that each story's layout is very different than the original picture books. There are missing illustrations (including some of my favorites) though all of the text is there. That fact really reduces this collection's value in my opinion, especially because Keats was such a thoughtful illustrator and each picture matches with the text to evoke a much stronger meaning than words or picture alone. It's still a great book though and nice to have in the classroom or at home. If you had to choose between owning each of the originals and this collection though, go with the originals.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood Favorites, March 12, 2003

By 

Wendy A. B. Whipple (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury (Hardcover)

This book contains 10 of Ezra Jack Keats's wonderful stories. This is not cheap. (But worth every dime!) You just can't go wrong with this collection. It is a fine example of Keats's marvelous craft.

One of the things I like about this book (and Keats's books generally) is that it portrays urban settings. As a little girl growing up in a rural Midwestern town, I honestly never noticed that the main character in Snowy Day was African-American, even though none of the kids I went to school with were. That fact was unimportant to me as a child, but I can see the value of it as an adult. Exposing our children to many cultures and races can only improve the way the next generation sees the world. From the bio at the end of the book: "Childhood, in his mind, was a colorblind experience."

Keats wrote over a hundred books. It must have been hard to pick just 10 for this collection. I think you'll love the ones that were chosen, if you don't already.