100 Days of Ezra
December
Happy Holiday Season to All!
01 – “Family Fun @ Your Library: Ezra Jack Keats,” Abilene, (Tex.) Public Library, South Branch, with the National Council for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL), 5-6 p.m. Keats-related readings and activities continue throughout the month
02-03 – NCCIL hosts Keats readings and art activities for children and families, Abilene
12 – Private naming ceremony for the Ezra Jack Keats Pre-K Center in Queens, 1-2:30 p.m.
15 – Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft, Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library, 4 p.m.
23 – The Snowy Day, live reading by Malika Lee Whitney, on “State of the Arts NYC,” hosted by Savona Bailey-McClain, WBAI 99.5 FM/wbai.org, 5 p.m.
November
01 – First day of Picture Book Month
17 – Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft, Brooklyn Public Library
17-20 – National Council of Teachers of English convention, in Atlanta
24 – Thanksgiving Day
25 – Animated holiday special The Snowy Day starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video
October
01 – Ezra Jack Keats and Peter’s Chair, Young Artists Workshop, Rockefeller Park, NYC
National Bullying Prevention Month begins
15 – “Ezra Jack Keats Birthday Celebration,” Louisiana Children’s Museum, New Orleans,
17 – National Diversity Day (NEA)
20 – Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft, Brooklyn Public Library
27 – Read for the Record (Jumpstart)
September
08 – International Literacy Day (Unesco/ILA)
15 – Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft at the Brooklyn Public Library
17 – Brooklyn Book Festival, Children’s Day: Teachers reception with Andrea Pinkney and Chancellor Carmen Farina; teachers bookmaking workshop with Esther Smith; musical performance of Keats’s Maggie and the Pirate, by TADA! Youth Theater
24 – National Book Festival, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
28 – Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft at the Arlington Library, Brooklyn
July
02 – 1st EJK Story Hour of the summer in Prospect Park
9-11 – ILA conference, in Boston
09 – Opening night, “Adventure from Ezra Jack Keats: Skates & Maggie and the Pirate,” TADA! Youth Theater, NYC; until August 4
14 – “Ezra Jack Keats: A Centennial Celebration,” workshop for educators and talk by children’s book author-historian Leonard Marcus, Jewish Museum, NYC,
17 – “Happy 100th Ezra Jack Keats!” birthday party with stories, crafts and more, Zimmer Children’s Museum, Los Angeles
21 – Ezra Jack Keats Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library
27 – “Story Time with Tammy Hall,” Madison Square Park, NYC, in conjunction with Mad. Sq. Art’s commissioned sculpture by Martin Puryear
June
Ezra Jack Keats Birthday Blowout Weekend
09 – EJK book giveaway/photo op at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Summer Reading Kickoff
10 – Literary Landmark designation of the Peter statue in Prospect Park
11 – A special Ezra Jack Keats Family Concert, in honor of Ezra’s 100th, in Prospect Park
18 – Brooklyn Museum, Gallery/Studio opening dedicated to Ezra Jack Keats
23-28 – ALA Mid-winter Meeting, in Orlando
30 – Ezra Jack Keats Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library
May
EJK Bookmaking Month
2-8 – Children’s Book Week
02 – EJK Mini-Grant winners announced
02 – Exhibition of Bookmaking Award-winning books opens at the Brooklyn Public Library
14 – EJK Bookmaking Awards, in Baltimore
20 – EJK Bookmaking Awards, in New York City
21 – National Readathon Day
21 – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN)
26 – Ezra Jack Keats Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library
April
EJK Book Awards
01 – National Poetry Month begins
02 – National Children’s Book Day
6-8 – Keats Centennial Lecture and EJK Book Awards
at the Children’s Book Festival, Hattiesburg, Mississippi
12 – Drop Everything and Read Day
28 – Ezra Jack Keats Bedtime Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library
29 – “The City Through Focussed Goggles!: The
Racial Legacy of Ezra Jack Keats’ Picture Books,” by Cara Byrne, presented at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
30 – El día de los niños
March
Ezra’s Birthday Month
02 – Read Across America Day (NEA)
11 – Ezra’s Birthday
11 – Ezra Jack Keats Read-a-thon, at Books of Wonder, NYC, 10–2
13 – “Celebrating Authors Big and Small,” Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, 11-3, incorporating Keats birthday festivities and a viewing of books from the EJK Bookmaking Competition. The EJK Bookmaking Awards follow
25 – Exhibition of books from the EJK Bookmaking Competition opens, San Francisco Public Library, Main Library, through May 8
24 – Ezra Jack Keats Bedtime Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library
February
African-American History Month
09 – EJK Book Award winners announced
09 – Premiere of “The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats,” Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, through March 20
25 – Ezra Jack Keats Bedtime Stories at the Brooklyn Public Library