Ezra Jack Keats Artist and Picture-Book Maker

Long before multicultural characters and themes were fashionable, Ezra JackKeats crossed social boundaries by being the first American picture-book makerto give the urban child a central place in childrenis literature. InEzra Jack Keats: Artist and Picture-Book Maker author Brian Aldersongives an account of the emergence and significance of Keatsi books within thecontext of his life.Alderson shows how Keatsi early ambitions were all towards fineart and were spurred on by his success as a schoolboy painter. But hiscareer was always under threat from the depression, from the distractions of warservice, and from all the financial difficulties that are the regular lot ofpracticing artists. Despite a spell of study in Paris, Keats eventuallygravitated into commercial art and thennto his own surprisendiscovered thathe was a childrenis book illustrator.In describing this career, and in analyzing the great picture books of Keatsimaturity, Brian Alderson has drawn upon recollections of those who knew him andupon the large archive of his works held at the de Grummond Collection of theUniversity of Southern Mississippi. This has allowed an insight not only intoKeatsi character, but also into his working life: everything from hisobsessive contract negotiations to his struggles in perfecting both his booksand the way in which they were presented to the public.In its mixture of sadness and joy, Keatsi life brought him very close tothe children for whom he nas an ex-kid nhad such affinity. Thisbook is the fourth in a Pelican series featuring Americais greatest childrenisillustrators and authors including Jessie Willcox Smith, Johnny Gruelle, andKate Greenaway.Brian Alderson is an international authority in the field of childrenisliterature. He has written, edited, and translated stories for children; he hasorganized exhibitions in Britain and the U.S. on aspects of the subject; and aschildrenis books reviewer of The Times of London, he has the continuingexperience of reading and reviewing contemporary childrenis books. For morethan twenty years he lectured in childrenis literature at what is now theUniversity of North London, where he also organized courses for the BritishStudies program of the University of Southern Mississippi.Alderson, Brian is the author of 'Ezra Jack Keats Artist and Picture-Book Maker' with ISBN 9781565540064 and ISBN 1565540069.