| Nominated by the New York Public Library as one of the top 100 influential children's book author/illustrators, Ezra Jack Keats is known for his groundbreaking picture book, The Snowy Day, which won the 1963 Caldecott Medal for illustration. But Keats's brilliance goes way beyond this early book, extending over almost two dozen books for children. In this collection of essays, I explore the centrality of play thoughout Keats's oeuvre, from the whimsical antics of Keats's characters to Keats's playfulness as a skilled graphic artist. Available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook. Ask your local bookseller to order a copy for you, or go online and order from one of the following booksellers: Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or Amazon. For library sales, click HERE to visit the Ingram Content Group.
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Nikola-Lisa spins gold out of even the most unremarkable-seeming threads of Keats’s work and life. The “found objects” that Keats’s heroes fashion into playthings “exist[s] as a reminder of the necessary—and often frail—relationship between concrete reality and personal fantasy” he writes, further analyzing how Keats’s own “journey into the soul” not only “led him to his own humanity,” but can “speak directly to the child within us all.” Keats’s world comes alive within Nikola-Lisa’s luminous writing, reacquainting readers with one of the great, unsung voices of children’s literature, as well as reuniting them with their own imaginations. Booklife (7/5/2024)
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