The Snowy Day , which featured Peter, was awarded the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book for children in 1963. In 1980, he received an award from the University of Southern Mississippi for his contributions to children's literature. Throughout his career Keats wrote and illustrated over eighty-five books for children's enjoyment. In the books that Keats wrote and illustrated he used his special artistic techniques to portray his subjects in a unique manner. One of these was his use of blending gouache with cut-out collage.
Gouache is a special type of paste that artists use to glaze their work.
The characters in Keats' books came from his ethnic background and the community in which he grew up. Many of his stories illustrate family life and the simple pleasures that a child has in his daily routine. Children from all backgrounds can relate to a new brother or sister as told in Peter's Chair. Jennie's Hat illustrates the excitement of a child waiting on a present and the anticipation of what the present would look like. Goggles tells the story of finding a pair of goggles and the chase that follows the boys through the streets of a neighborhood.