Bibliographic Information: Keats, Ezra Jack. (1962). The Snowy Day. New York: Viking Press.
Plot Description: Young Peter wakes up to see a blanket of snow covering everything outside his window. After breakfast he puts on his snowsuit and heads out to explore. He makes different patterns in the snow with his feet and a stick, which he also uses to smack the snow from a tree. The snow falls on his head. He also pretends to be a mountain climber and slides down a big hill of snow. As well as making snow angels, a snowman and snowballs. He saves a snowball in his pocket before going inside for the day. His mother helps him get out of his wet clothes and take a bath. When Peter looks for his snowball later that night, it is gone. He goes to bed hoping that the snow outside will not disappear like the snowball. When he awakens in the morning he sees he didn’t need to worry: the world outside is still blanketed in snow.
Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile Measure: AD500L Interest Level: Lower Grades ATOS Book Level: 2.5
Qualitative Reading Analysis: Figurative language is used to explain sounds. For example, the author uses onomatopoeia ‘crunch, crunch, crunch’ to convey the sound of Peter walking in the snow. Graphics used for understanding. For example, in the story is says, “he walked with his toes pointed out, like this:” and then there is an illustration of what the snow looked like when he walked that way. The illustration, though not necessary, will help readers, especially children, understand what the author means when he says “like this” about the way Peter walked. It also shows the tracks he makes dragging his feet in the snow and then what it looks like when he drags a stick along too. Language closely adheres to readers linguistic base and register is casual and familiar. The text content will closely match life experiences of readers who live in places where it snows, but will be new to those who live in hot climates and may have never seen snow.
Content Area: Reading, Literature
Content Area Standard: English Language Arts Standards for Reading: Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
English Language Arts Standards: Speaking and Listening: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
Curriculum Suggestions: Have students retell the story using simple sentence strips provided by the teacher. Students can draw a picture of the action on the strip and then organize the strips in chronological order. Have students imagine what happens after the story ends with Peter and his friend going out into the snow.
Supporting Digital Content:
Awards: SLJ Best Book; NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts; ABA Children’s Book Council; Caldecott Medal
Character names/descriptions: Peter, a little African American boy who lives in the city and goes exploring on a snow day.
Personal Thoughts: I really enjoyed the pictures and how they were used to enhance the meaning of the story.
High interest annotation: The city is covered in snow and young Peter is ready to explore the winter wonderland.