Peter's Chair (Picture Puffins) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ezra Jack Keats (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Picture Puffins

Generations of children have read, re-read, and loved Ezra Jack Keats?s award-winning, classic stories about Peter and his neighborhood friends. Now, for the first time, Peter?s Chair, A Letter to Amy, and Goggles! are available in paperback exclusively from Puffin. ?A more charming or contemporary child than Peter...is hard to bring to mind.? -- Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ezra Jack Keats's luminous paintings of city life and his unerring sense of the truly important dramas of childhood have been enchanting children for years. He began his career in children's books by illustrating other people's texts, but after a number of years decided to write his own. This decision gave him the freedom to circumvent the contrivance and rigidity he sometimes found in the texts he illustrated. His first attempt, The Snowy Day, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1963, and the books that followed won numerous awards and distinctions, including a Caldecott Honor.

In 1965 Mr. Keats was a contributing artist to UNICEF, and in 1973 the children's reading room of the Warrensville Public Library in Ohio was named after him. In 1974 he presided as the guest of honor at the opening of a children's roller-skating rink in Tokyo, Japan. The rink, which has a plaque bearing his name, was built in response to the enthusiasm for roller skating sparked by his book Skates!

Mr. Keats grew up in a tenement apartment in Brooklyn and began painting at a very early age, with the indulgent approval of his mother. He taught himself how to paint, using whatever materials he could find. One of the first times he received some paint...[there were] just a few colors, two of which were blue and white-and I covered a board with my blue paint. I dipped my brush into the white paint and dabbed it onto the board, shook the brush a little and let it trail off. I stepped back and got the greatest thrill I can remember. I saw a little cloud floating across a blue sky. It was very real to me, and I'll always remember it. What a tremendous feeling of gratification, to havecreated something like this! Even today, when I look up and see a tiny cloud floating across the sky with little wispy ends trailing off, I think of that time."

A recognized painter in his own right, Mr. Keats had his work displayed in some of the finest art collections in America. His books appear in seventeen languages, and a movie adaptation of The Snowy Day won a prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Ezra Jack Keats died in 1983. His manuscripts, original art, and correspondence are now in the outstanding De Grummond Collection of children's literature at the University of Southern Mississippi.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140564411
• ISBN-13: 978-0140564419
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( K ) > Keats, Ezra Jack
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > New Sibling
  • #37 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > New Baby

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Ezra Jack Keats Best Books, July 29, 2005

By 

Diaspora Chic "diaspora_chic" (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peter's Chair (Picture Puffins) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't know what ken32 is talking about but Peter's Chair has nothing to do with gender difference. It is about a boy, Peter, who is disgruntled at the change that is occuring around the house for his new baby sister Susie. Peter sees that his baby items are being painted over in pink, which is the color that will identify if the baby is going to be a girl. Babies don't care what color their furniture is.
But Peter feeling that everything he has is going to be given to his sister, takes his childhood chair and runs away from home. But he realizes that he isn't a little boy anymore. He is a boy but not a baby. He has to accept change in the household when a sibling is born. Peter is not seen as a spoiled brat. He just doesn't want to have to give in to Susie. Peter learns a valuable lesson and is willing to help his family any way he can.
Ezra Jack Keats, rest in peace, is a good storyteller. His stories are centered around the urban areas. He doesn't paint a negative view of the city. He rather illustrates it as a community of supporting and close-knit citizens. His books dispel the media misconception of the dying city.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pull Up a Chair, September 21, 2005

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Peter's Chair (Picture Puffins) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a wonderful story with delightful illustrations about a young boy who is feeling displaced because he has a baby sister on the way. He is upset to see his old layette painted pink for baby Susie and his infant toys passed down to her.

The one thing that has escaped the fate of the pink paint is his old toddler chair. Peter stashes his chair away and later sets up a clever trap to fool everyone into thinking he is hiding behind the curtains. Peter tries to reclaim his old seat, but he has long outgrown it.

Sadder, but wiser, he accepts his new sister and even gives her a prized gift. This is a wonderful classic!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!, January 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Peter's Chair (Picture Puffins) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have 2 boys in 1st grade with little sisters. This book reflects the struggle that they go through in sharing things with younger siblings.