Characters
In the more than twenty children's books he wrote and illustrated, Ezra Jack Keats created a world that has enchanted generations of children and adults all over the globe. Known for his engaging plots, Keats wove members of his eclectic cast of characters into a large selection of his books. Children of every temperament and culture find personalities and situations in Keats books with which they identify.
Greatly beloved by their audiences for the experiences described in his books, the Keats characters are robust and three-dimensional. The following is a brief description of the Keats family of characters. A click on underlined book names will take you to each book.
The center of Keats' world of children is inhabited by the characters of Peter, Louie, Archie, Amy, Susie and Roberto. Each of these characters occupies a core position in at least one story and takes a supporting role in others. In addition, there are Jennie and Maggie, and Peter's dog Willie.
Peter, perhaps the most famous Keats character, was introduced to his audience as a youngster of about four in The Snowy Day. This Caldecott Award winning book details Peter's adventures in a city covered with snow. In a story famous for its tender quality, Keats skillfully weaves into his plot a sense of the dangers surrounding Peter's protected and innocent world of childhood. Peter yearns to join the snowball fight of the older boys, but he finds that he is too small when he is accidentally hit in the chest and knocked to the ground. With this incident, Keats establishes one of his important trademark story elements: while the characters of his books live in the world of their imaginations, Keats consistently challenges them with problems that are real and recognizable to his young readers. The ability of Keats' characters to deal with these problems, to change their outlooks and grow, makes them attractive role models for their audience.
As Peter matures, he is confronted with the problems of becoming an older brother, of facing the ridicule of his peers when he decides that he would like to invite a girl, his friend Amy, to his birthday party, of escaping the tyranny and violence of a gang of older boys in his neighborhood, and finally of deciding what kind of older boy he will become, given the options he sees placed before him.
Louie is the quietest member of the Keats community. Living alone with his mother in a very busy city, Louie never speaks. It is during the puppet show featured in the Louie that we learn of his extreme shyness. And it is during that puppet show, presented by Susie, Peter's little sister, andRoberto, that Louie, overwhelmed by affection for the puppet named Gussie, bursts into conversation. This joyous breakthrough also allows Susie and Roberto to develop their own understanding and compassion for this lonely and silent child. Susie appears in several Keats books and becomes a great friend to Louie, accompanying him into the galaxy in an imaginary space ship built out of found objects and imagination.
Louie goes on to discover that he won't lose friends when he moves from his old neighborhood, and that he can make new ones. He learns to reach out to explore his world, to stand up to accusations of being a thief, and, miraculously, he finds a man who learns to love him and his mother. Finally, with the help of his new father, Louie gains the confidence to confront the taunts and teasing of his peers, thus causing his detractors to envy what they once criticized.
Archie is Peter's best friend. Together, in Hi Cat! they stage entertainments for their entire neighborhood gang, but endure one failure after another. It is Archie who emerges from the string of catastrophes with the greatest calm and optimism, seeing the bright side and sharing it with Peter. It is this quality of resourcefulness that continues to develop as Keats allows Archie to grow into the boy who is able to enter a pet show even though his pet has disappeared. Archie's ingenuity and creativity just will not quit and, as Keats drew him, these qualities also allow him to be generous and kind.
Amy, the title character in A Letter to Amy, is given a great challenge by her creator, Keats. She is the one who has to brave the crowd of boys who will be at Peter's birthday party, and she does, with courage and conviction. It is Amy who brings the most unusual present, having trained her parrot to wish Peter a Happy Birthday! And it is Amy who proves that girls do not ruin birthday parties, and they can even have a good time themselves!
Amy, in Dreams, continues to appear as the girl in whom boys can confide. Roberto, the boy who presents the puppet show with Susie in Louie, and enters his pet mouse in the Pet Show, has a night of fantastic adventure after complaining to Amy how difficult it is to get to sleep. From his bedroom window, Roberto protects Archie's pet cat from an angry dog on the street in a surprising and unusual way.
It is a thrilling experience for the readers of Keats' literature to encounter again and again the characters they have met in earlier books. They recognize the names, personalities and histories of each child: Louie's shyness and his puppet Gussie, Roberto's brashness and his pet mouse, Amy's bravery and her parrot, Archie's generosity and pet cat, sister Susie, Peter's strong sense of family and friendship and, of course, his dog Willie.
Then there is Jennie, who wears a very special hat on Sundays. And Clementina who, with her father, discovers the beauty of nature on a trip to the desert. Maggie tracks down the “pirate” who stole her pet.
While Keats has drawn an environment filled with children, he has not neglected the position held by adults in this world. Perhaps another reason why adults and children are fascinated by Keats' books is that these books propose different solutions to familiar and real intergenerational problems.
The children in Keats' neighborhood are African American. Hispanic, Asian and Anglo. The harsh environment of the inner city is recognizable, but endowed with the color and warmth found in the wonder of childhood.
Peter's neighborhood has resonated with people all over the world, and it will continue to do so, as the characters grow older, and continue to have adventures such as Keats might have described if he were still alive. These adventures will be pictured in Easy-to-Read books describing, for example, complications that arise during a birthday party for Peter's dog, Willie, or when a pet hamster escapes, or when the first tooth falls out and the tooth-fairy is expected to visit.
Keats also offered parents the opportunity to make up their own stories based on his illustrations by creating four wordless books. In Clementina's Cactus, a little girl discovers the wonders and beauty of the desert. Skates, Kitten for a Day and Psst! Doggie recount the adventures of animals in delightful situations. A dog finds himself among kittens, thinks he is a cat, and enjoys it! Cat and dog dance in costumed folk dances! Two dogs put on a prize performance on a skating rink! As a result, a skating rink in Tokyo was named after Keats.