Keats Foundation Lobbies for ‘The Snowy Day’ Postage Stamp

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By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 5/25/2009 2:00:00 PM

Peter, the character in Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962), may be joining the ranks of Tom Sawyer, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and Curious George—by appearing on a U.S. Postage Stamp.

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has launched a campaign to have the U.S. Postage Stamp Citizens' Advisory Committee select Keats’s The Snowy Day as a subject for a stamp in 2012, the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Caldecott-winning picture book.

The 13-member citizen’s advisory committee, which decides what subjects are chosen for our country’s commemorative postage stamps, is comprised of a diverse group, including actor Karl Malden, former vice presidential first lady Joan Mondale, and Olympic swimmer Donna DeVarona.

The Postal Service has a history of recognizing children’s literary classics. Tom Sawyer appeared in the 1972 American Folklore Series, and in 1993, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Wiggin; Houghton, 1903), Little Women (Alcott; Robert Brothers, 1868) and Little House on the Prairie (Wilder; Harper, 1935) were part of the Children's Book Classics series. Eight stamp series entitled Favorite Children’s Book Animals were issued in 2006 and included Ian Falconer’s Olivia and Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar.

In a letter to the committee, Deborah Pope, executive director of the Keats Foundation, called Peter, the black child character in A Snowy Day, “the Jackie Robinson of American Children’s books.”

Anita Silvey, a noted book critic and author of 100 Best Books for Children (Houghton, 2005), says, “And if the next generation of African-American creators, their offspring, both literally and figuratively–Bryan Collier, Brian Pinkney, Chris Myers, Javaka Steptoe–can see further, and have even greater vision, it is because they stand on the shoulders of giants. And one of these giants was named Ezra Jack Keats.”

The foundation hopes to enlist the support of children in this project and is asking teachers, parents, and librarians to encourage children to visit the Web site of the Ezra Keats Foundation to add their names to the Support the Stamp list.

Pope feels it’s important for “kids to be part of the campaign and hopefully they will see the result of their efforts in 2012 with a Snowy Day stamp.”

The foundation’s goal is to submit 10,000 names on a petition to the committee.