VOA标准英语2011--Exhibit Salutes Children's Author Who Introduced Minority Characters

Exhibit Salutes¹ Children's Author Who Introduced Minority Characters

 

Shakespeare asked, "What's in a Name?"

A lot, it turns out. Take Ezra Jack² Keats, the famous children’s book author and illustrator, who died in 1983.

Keats wrote and illustrated³ more than 20 children’s books. Most featured African-American children at a time when that was unheard of.

But here's the surprise. Keats was born Jacob Ezra Katz. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Early in his career, Katz - who was white - changed his name to Keats, a Christian⁴ name.

Keats' groundbreaking book, "The Snowy Day," published 50 years ago, was the first color picture book featuring an African-American child, and not in a racist⁵ way.

Keats' work is now the subject of a retrospective at New York’s Jewish Museum.

“Many people think he was African-American. Nobody I encountered knew he was Jewish," says curator Claudia Nahson. “Anti-Semitism was prevalent still after World War II. It was hard to find a job as an artist with a Jewish name.”

Keats broke boundaries. His first book, "My Dog Is Lost," followed Juanito, a Puerto Rican child newly arrived in New York, who tries to find his lost dog.

In "The Snowy Day," and his other books, Ezra Jack Keats crossed social boundaries by giving minorities a central place in children’s literature.

“There were not so many books that featured minorities at that point," Nahson says. "So that was a kind of prequel to pave the way for him to create Peter.”

Peter, the main character in "The Snowy Day," is a kid like any other. After going out in the snow for the first time, he returns home with a snowball in his pocket, expecting to still find it later on.

Keats wrote six more books about Peter, showing him in his gritty New York slum at a time when children’s books showed white children in well-groomed neighborhoods playing with other white kids.

Jerry Pinkney, an African-American, is a children's book illustrator. He read "The Snowy Day" to his own children.

“We were trying to find reading material for them and naturally, as people of color, we were looking for books that would reflect their image or mirror back their image," Pinkney says. "For people of color, all of a sudden there was this book that dealt with contemporary African-American life.”

Children's author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats in 1973

The illustrations in this exhibit are bold in color and striking in their depiction⁶ of African-American kids, with the facades⁷ of their apartment buildings covered in graffiti.

Keats - or Katz - who grew up poor, didn’t write about his own neighborhood or about Jewish children.

“The whiteness of children’s literature was a major concern," Nahson says. "He said he created Peter because he should have been there all along. That absence didn’t make sense to him."

Jerry Pinkney, who's won awards for his book illustrations, feels more should be done to diversify⁸ children's literature, but he's grateful to Keats.

“There’s a tremendous sense of courage to risk entering an area that had not really been gone into. Ezra was really the first," Pinkney says. "My appreciation⁹ and respect continue to grow.”

After completing its New York run in January, the exhibit, “The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats,” will travel on to other U.S. cities.

1 salutes   

n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• Poulengey salutes, and stands at the door awaiting orders. 波仑日行礼，站在门口听侯命令。 来自辞典例句
• A giant of the world salutes you. 一位世界的伟人向你敬礼呢。 来自辞典例句

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

6 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

7 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

8 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

9 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。