Book Honors
Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association (ALA), 1963 (Ezra’s Caldecott Acceptance Speech)
The most checked out book in the 125 year history of the New York Public Library, 2021The Library of Congress’s Books that Shaped America, 2012
Snowy Day Forever stamps (set of four) issued by the U.S. Postal Service, 2017
In a Spring Garden (see Illustrated by Ezra)
Library of Congress Books of the Year, 1965
Goggles!
Caldecott Medal Honor Book, 1970
Hi, Cat!
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for illustration, 1970
Apt. 3 and The King’s Fountain (see Illustrated by Ezra)
School Library Journal’s Best Books, 1971
The Trip
Children’s Choices Award, International Reading Association and the Children’s Book Council, 1977
Child Study Association of America’s Children’s Books of the Year:
The Little Drummer Boy, 1968
A Letter to Amy, 1968
Goggles! 1969
Hi, Cat! 1970
Two Tickets to Freedom, The King’s Fountain (see Illustrated by Ezra)
Apt. 3, 1971
Pet Show!, Over in the Meadow –1972
Dreams, 1974
Louie, 1975
Jennie’s Hat, Apt. 3 -1986
Regards to the Man in the Moon, 1987
Personal Honors
Designed the UNICEF’s first set of greeting cards, 1966
Member of White House Forum on Child Development and the Mass Media, 1970
“Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” on PBS featured Keats as a guest four times, 1971-1974
Harvard University Gutman Library housed selected papers and illustrations of Keats, the first children’s book author-illustrator asked to donate his papers to the library, 1974-1975
University of Southern Mississippi, Silver Medallion for Outstanding Service in the Field of Children’s Literature, 1980
Ezra Jack Keats Award, Writer, established by the New York Public Library, 1986
Ezra Jack Keats Bookmaking Competition established by the New York City Department of Education in collaboration with the Foundation, 1986
Keats Archives established by the de Grummond Collection of Children’s Literature, at the University of Southern Mississippi
American Library Association, Posthumous Honoree for Outstanding Advocacy for Libraries in the 20th Century, 2000
Ezra Jack Keats Award, Illustrator established by the New York Public Library, 2001
Society of Illustrators, Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
Ezra Jack Keats Award, Honor Book category established by the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, 2012
Induction into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, presented by Empire State Center for the Book and the Empire State Book Festival, 2015
Locations Dedicated to Keats
Skating rink in Kiyose, Japan, named in honor of his book “Skates,”1974
Ezra Jack Keats stepping-stone on the Celebrity Walk in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, dedicated 1985
Ezra Jack Keats International School (P.S. 253) in Brooklyn, New York, attended by children from over 40 countries,1988
Bronze statue of Peter and Willie, a storytelling site in the Imagination Playground of Prospect Park, dedicated 1997, designated an honorary Literary Landmark 2016
District 28 Pre-K Center, at four sites in Queens, New York, renamed Ezra Jack Keats Pre-K Center, 2016
Important Exhibitions
International touring exhibition organized by the United States Department of State, 1971
Ohanashi Caravan (mobile storytelling and puppetry program) tour of Japan in honor of Keats, 1973
De Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, “Hopes and Dreams: The Art of Ezra Jack Keats,” University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, 1989
California African American Museum, in Los Angeles, “Lasting Impressions: Illustrating African American Children’s Books”; traveled to Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Las Vegas, Baltimore, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1993-1996
New York Public Library, “An Artist’s View of Childhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Retrospective,” 1994
Brooklyn Public Library, “Children’s Artist of the City: An Ezra Jack Keats Retrospective,” 1995
Traveling exhibition to four museums in Japan, “Hope and Dreams: The Art of Ezra Jack Keats,” 1995-1996
De Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, “Collage: An Ezra Jack Keats Retrospective,” 2002
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, “Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art”; traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, 2007-2008
Traveling exhibition, “The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats,” curated by The Jewish Museum, in New York. Toured, September 2011–September 2014: Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio; National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia; and Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles