Peter's Chair

In one of my recent library trips, I found the shelf with all the Ezra Jack Keats books. I took an armful, and we read them over the course of the next week.

I think that Ezra Jack Keats plays an important role in the recent literary history by presenting a black boy as the protagonist of a story. However, as I read through a half dozen books, they didn't strike me as great literature. Keats has a unique artistic style, but few of his books have significant content to them. One happy exception is Peter's Chair, which I did like. I thought Keats did a good job of communicating something important, rather than just telling a story with clever pictures.

So if you're on the lookout for a good Ezra Jack Keats book, look at Peter's Chair first.