Ezra Jack Keats Birthday: March 11th Eza Jack Keats is considered one of America’s classic children’s book authors and illustrators of all time. He has written and illustrated numerousstories, and his talents were evident even as a small child. Ezra Jack Keats came from a poor family who lived in New York. As a young boy he began drawing and painting. He won a medal for drawing in middle school which he kept his entire life. In high school he won a national student contest run by the Scholastic Publishing Company for an oil painting depicting hobos warming themselve around a fire. These awards won at such a young age encouraged him to start a career as an illustrator. However, because his father sadly died and his family was so poor, Ezra Jack Keats had to work to support his family instead of go to art school as he intended. He still focused on his art work when he could and began making illustrations for magazines which were eventually noticed by an editor who asked him to focus on books for children. He began illustrating numerous books for other authors and eventually began writing his own. Many of his characters came from photograghs he would clip from magazines. One character who appeared in more than six books is Peter. The first book featuring Peter, The Snowy Day, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1963. Upon winnng this award, Ezra Jack Keats was suddenly famous. He was writing and illustrating books as wel as visiting classrooms around the country to tell students to “Keep on reading!” By the time of his death, he had illustrated over 85 books, written and illustrated 22 children’s classics, and won many prestigious awards. For further information about Eza Jack Keats and his foundation, check out: www.eza-jack-keats.org.