glaze. He marbled paper and worked with acrylics and watercolor, pen and ink and even photographs. The simplicity and directness of The Snowy Day gave way to more complex and painterly compositions, such as the expressionistic illustrations in Apt. 3. In his evolution from fine artist to children's book illustrator, Ezra applied influences and techniques that had inspired him as a painter, from Cubism to abstraction, within a cohesive, and often highly dramatic, narrative structure. His artwork also demonstrates an enormous emotional range, swinging from exuberant whimsy to deep desolation and back again. Honors and memorials Among the many honors Keats received for his 20-year contribution to children's literature are: The Snowy Day was awarded the Caldecott Medal and named one of the 150 most influential books of the 20th century by the New York Public Library. Keats was the first artist invited to design greeting cards for UNICEF. A skating rink in Kiyose, Japan, was named after him, in honor of his book Skates!. Keats was a member of the White House Forum on Child Development and the Mass Media and appeared on the celebrated PBS show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood several times; Sesame Street featured his book Peter's Chair, read aloud by First Lady Barbara Bush. He was awarded The University of Southern Mississippi Silver Medallion in 1980 during the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival as outstanding children's book author-illustrator. The city of Portland, Oregon, honored him with a parade, as did his readers in Tokyo, Japan. The Imagination Playground was set up by the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn, New York, based on the characters from Keats' books. The centerpiece is a much visited bronze statue of Peter with his dog Willie, where a story hour takes place weekly in the summer. P.S. 253 in Brooklyn was renamed the Ezra Jack Keats International School. In 2014, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles created a major retrospective of Keats' life and career. Outlets such as The Daily News, L.A. Weekly, and Time Out covered the exhibit. The National Endowment for the Arts also covered the exhibit on their Art Works blog. In 2017, the United States Postal Service created Forever stamps in honor of Keats's Snowy Day. Outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post covered the stamps' release. Bibliography Books written and illustrated My Dog Is Lost (1960) The