The Snowy Day

No, it didn't snow today...I read this book to my class. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats has always been one of my favorites. It is the story of a little boy who wakes up to find that it has snowed during the night. He spends his day playing in the snow and then tells his mom about his adventures as she is helping him out of his wet clothes and into a bath.

This is a book that doesn't have detailed illustrations or a lot of text, yet there is so much to talk about with children. My favorite part of the book is the page showing Peter sitting in the bathtub. He recounted his adventures to his mother and then while he is in the tub "he thought and thought and thought about them".

We are so quick to dismiss children's play as nothing important but this book reminds us that life is an adventure for children. There is so much to discover and to learn about. Peter finds adventure by pointing his feet different ways as he walks, or dragging a stick in the snow. He learns important lessons, like he is not old enough for the big boys' snowball fight and he entertains himself quite competently as he builds a snowman and makes snow angels.

Unfortunately children are far too often confined indoors in front of a computer, television set or video game. Others are having the adventures and children are just passively observing.

Peter spent time reflecting about his adventures. We must always remember that children need this kind of time. We adults spend our lives in such a rush, living by the clock and by all that we need to do. Children need time just to think and let their minds go free, unencumbered by the constraints of our too-scheduled lives.

A child can remind us that we too need to take time for adventures and then, we need to sit and think and think and think about them. The world is full of possibilities. Lest we forget, the story of Peter and his snowy day will remind us.