Peter is a young African American boy growing up in New York City.  This picture book series is fairly loose, meaning that the stories don’t really depend very much on each other and could be read in any order.  Most of them are about small pieces of daily life, like the enchantment of a snowy day for a young child or how an older sibling deals with his feelings about the new baby in the family.

Peter’s family lives in an apartment in the city, and he and his friends are shown playing on the sidewalks and in alleys. He has a pet dog, a dachshund named Willie, and a friend named Archie, who stars in a couple of books in the series.

The art style of the books varies somewhat between individual books.  The first book in the series, The Snowy Day, was a Caldecott Medal winner and was praised by Horn Book magazine for being “the very first full-color picture book to feature a small black hero.”  However, although Peter’s race is shown clearly in the pictures, race is not directly mentioned or discussed.  Peter is just a typical young boy, and his stories and the incidents in them could easily happen to any kid, giving them universal appeal.

Books in the Series:

The Snowy Day (1962)

Young Peter experiences the wonder of a snowy day.

Whistle for Willie (1964)

Peter tries hard to learn how to whistle so that he can whistle for his pet dog.

Peter’s Chair (1967)

Now that Peter has a new baby sister, his parents are repainting his old, blue baby furniture pink for her.  However, Peter is distressed at being replaced as the baby of the family and can’t stand the loss of his old baby chair.

A Letter to Amy (1968)

Peter has a crush on Amy and wants to invite her to his party.  However, when he accidentally bumps into her and knocks her to the ground in his hurry to mail her invitation, has he ruined his chances of her accepting the invitation?

Goggles! (1969)

When Peter and his friend, Archie, find an old pair of goggles and start playing with it, they attract the attention of some mean older boys.

Hi, Cat! (1970)

Archie accidentally adopts a stray cat.

Pet Show! (1972)

Archie wants to enter his cat in a pet show, but he can’t find it anywhere!