The Snowy Day

This book is the 1963 Caldecott Medal Winner

Exposition: This is a sweet story that takes place during winter. It is about a little boy named Peter and his adventures he has the day it snows.

Conflict: Peter is very excited the morning he discovered it snowed the night before. He puts on his snowsuit and his adventures begin. He makes snowangels and snowballs and is a bit conflicted when he can't participate in the snowball fight with the older boys.

Rising Action: After his big day out he makes a snowball and puts it in his pocket. He then goes into his house.

Climax: As Peter taks a bath he thinks about his day. When he checks for his snowball it is gone and he is left feeling sad. We get the impression that he is missing the snow already.

Falling Action: That night, as Peter sleeps, he dreams the sun has melted all the snow away.

Resolution: Aha! Peter awakes to find not only is the snow still there but it is also snowing new snow. He goes back outside with his friend for another adventuresome day.

The illustrations it this fun little story are interesting. They look to be torn or cut paper, perhaps even fabric like sack cloth. The illustrations are very simple to go along with this simple tale yet there is a quality about them that shows much care was put into them. Ther are three pages, two at the front of the book and one at the end, that are filled with stencilled snowflakes. The illustrator really used a unique medium. 

Keats, E.J. (1962). The snowy day. New York: Puffin Books.