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Apt. 3
On a rainy day two brothers try to discover who is playing the harmonica they hear in their apartment building.
1 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1971
3 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Ezra Jack Keats
122 books371 followersEzra Jack Keats was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1963 Caldecott Medal for illustrating The Snowy Day, which he also wrote. Many of Ezra’s stories are about a group of friends growing up in the city. The neighborhood they live in looks like the streets where Ezra grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
He was born Jacob Ezra Katz, the third child of Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy. The family was very poor. Jack, as he was known, was artistic from an early age, and joyfully made pictures out of whatever scraps of wood, cloth and paper that he could collect. Benjamin Katz, who worked as a waiter, tried to discourage his son, insisting that artists lived terrible, impoverished lives. Nevertheless, he sometimes brought home tubes of paint, claiming, "A starving artist swapped this for a bowl of soup."
With little encouragement at home, Keats sought validation for his skills at school and learned about art at the public library. He received a medal for drawing on graduating from Junior High School 149. Although unimpressive-looking, the medal meant a great deal to him, and he kept it his entire life. Keats attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he won a national contest run by Scholastic for an oil painting depicting hobos warming themselves around a fire. At his graduation, in January 1935, he was to receive the senior class medal for excellence in art. Two days before the ceremony, Benjamin Katz died in the street of a heart attack. When Keats identified his father's body, he later wrote, "I found myself staring deep into his secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newspaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."
His father's death curtailed his dream of attending art school. For the remainder of the Great Depression until he was drafted for military service in World War II, Keats took art classes when he could and worked at a number of jobs, most notably as a mural painter under the New Deal program the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and as a comic book illustrator. At Fawcett Publications, he illustrated backgrounds for the Captain Marvel comic strip. He spent his military service (1943-45) designing camouflage patterns for the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1947, he petitioned to legally change his name to Ezra Jack Keats, in reaction to the anti-Semitic prejudice of the time.
Keats spent most of 1949 painting and studying in Paris, realizing a long-deferred dream of working as an artist. After returning to New York, he focused on earning a living as a commercial artist, undoubtedly influenced by his father's anxieties. His illustrations began to appear in Reader's Digest, The New York Times Book Review, Collier's and Playboy, and on the jackets of popular books. His work was displayed in Fifth Avenue store windows, and the Associated American Artists Gallery, in New York City, gave him exhibitions in 1950 and 1954.
In his unpublished autobiography, Keats wrote, "I didn't even ask to get into children's books." In fact, he was asked to do so by Elizabeth Riley of Crowell, which brought out his first children's title, Jubilant for Sure, written by Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing, in 1954. To prepare for the assignment, Keats went to rural Kentucky, where the story takes place, to sketch. Many children's books followed, including the Danny Dunn adventure series, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin, and an ethnographic series by Tillie S. Pine and Joseph Levine, beginning with The Indians Knew. All told, Keats illustrated nearly 70 books written by other authors.
In 1983, Keats died at the age of 67 following a heart attack. His last projects included designing the sets for a musical version of his book The Trip (which would later become the stage production Captain Louie), designing
He was born Jacob Ezra Katz, the third child of Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy. The family was very poor. Jack, as he was known, was artistic from an early age, and joyfully made pictures out of whatever scraps of wood, cloth and paper that he could collect. Benjamin Katz, who worked as a waiter, tried to discourage his son, insisting that artists lived terrible, impoverished lives. Nevertheless, he sometimes brought home tubes of paint, claiming, "A starving artist swapped this for a bowl of soup."
With little encouragement at home, Keats sought validation for his skills at school and learned about art at the public library. He received a medal for drawing on graduating from Junior High School 149. Although unimpressive-looking, the medal meant a great deal to him, and he kept it his entire life. Keats attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he won a national contest run by Scholastic for an oil painting depicting hobos warming themselves around a fire. At his graduation, in January 1935, he was to receive the senior class medal for excellence in art. Two days before the ceremony, Benjamin Katz died in the street of a heart attack. When Keats identified his father's body, he later wrote, "I found myself staring deep into his secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newspaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."
His father's death curtailed his dream of attending art school. For the remainder of the Great Depression until he was drafted for military service in World War II, Keats took art classes when he could and worked at a number of jobs, most notably as a mural painter under the New Deal program the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and as a comic book illustrator. At Fawcett Publications, he illustrated backgrounds for the Captain Marvel comic strip. He spent his military service (1943-45) designing camouflage patterns for the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1947, he petitioned to legally change his name to Ezra Jack Keats, in reaction to the anti-Semitic prejudice of the time.
Keats spent most of 1949 painting and studying in Paris, realizing a long-deferred dream of working as an artist. After returning to New York, he focused on earning a living as a commercial artist, undoubtedly influenced by his father's anxieties. His illustrations began to appear in Reader's Digest, The New York Times Book Review, Collier's and Playboy, and on the jackets of popular books. His work was displayed in Fifth Avenue store windows, and the Associated American Artists Gallery, in New York City, gave him exhibitions in 1950 and 1954.
In his unpublished autobiography, Keats wrote, "I didn't even ask to get into children's books." In fact, he was asked to do so by Elizabeth Riley of Crowell, which brought out his first children's title, Jubilant for Sure, written by Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing, in 1954. To prepare for the assignment, Keats went to rural Kentucky, where the story takes place, to sketch. Many children's books followed, including the Danny Dunn adventure series, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin, and an ethnographic series by Tillie S. Pine and Joseph Levine, beginning with The Indians Knew. All told, Keats illustrated nearly 70 books written by other authors.
In 1983, Keats died at the age of 67 following a heart attack. His last projects included designing the sets for a musical version of his book The Trip (which would later become the stage production Captain Louie), designing
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
August 1, 2020
This story is a little darker and a tad scary. It’s a rainy day and Sam and his brother are in their apartment when they hear a harmonica playing. It sounds sad and lonely and they decide to find who it is playing. They talk down their hallways and stairways and listen outside each door for a harmonica. The building has a feel to it that is like a building in a horror movie. It is a little eerie. They hear arguing, crunching, snoring, and smell cooking along the way. Finally, they notice a jug of milk outside Apt 3 disappeared and a voice tells them to come inside. The man living there is blind and he tells them a lot about themselves just from what he can overhear. He also plays the harmonica for them. Sam asks if they can go for a walk tomorrow.
The colors are amazing, they are muted with swirls of dark colors. There is nothing bright here or sunny. The rainy day permeates everything. It totally left me with a sad, morose feeling and it was sort of scary.
The nephew kept asking why everything looked so scary. When they went in the man’s Apartment at the end, Nephew was telling him not to do that. His fist were rolled up and he was hanging on me. He thought this book was scary. After it was over, he thought that was cool. He wanted to read it again. He gave this 4 stars.
The colors are amazing, they are muted with swirls of dark colors. There is nothing bright here or sunny. The rainy day permeates everything. It totally left me with a sad, morose feeling and it was sort of scary.
The nephew kept asking why everything looked so scary. When they went in the man’s Apartment at the end, Nephew was telling him not to do that. His fist were rolled up and he was hanging on me. He thought this book was scary. After it was over, he thought that was cool. He wanted to read it again. He gave this 4 stars.
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January 29, 2025This book gave me shivers. It is a little bit sad, a little bit scary, a little bit hopeful. When I was a child, the books of Ezra Jack Keats transported me to a world that felt, in ways, so different from my own very rural one. The settings, the situations, were unfamiliar yet, the humanity -- the emotions! -- I still felt that I knew these characters. His books helped me cultivate empathy. I'm so grateful I encountered them as a child and that my own children can read them today.
October 18, 2012
Oh, Ezra Jack Keats—I am not worthy. Mr. Keats has been a favorite artist and voice in my reading world as far back as I can remember. As an adult though, I find myself admiring his work for different reasons. Keats can capture such realism and grit in his tales and descriptions that I just don’t see or hear in modern picture books. Like a time capsule or bubble of history, his stories hold and display actions or objects not seen in kids’ books anymore. Readers will come across shouting, fighting, and even cigarettes. Real life splashes across a Keats book. I appreciate that flavor of honesty and rhythm of life.
Apt. 3 pulls and tugs readers along with young brothers, Sam and Ben, from apartment to apartment one rainy day in search of the harmonica music flowing through the building. The music tickles their ears, inspires their imaginations, and lures the boys out on an adventure to discover the source of the mysterious music.
”He stood up suddenly, raised his harmonica to his mouth, and began to play. He played purples and grays and rain and smoke and the sounds of night.”
All my senses came out to play with this book. Mr. Keats brings this city apartment building to life with sounds, smells, and sights. Smells of dinner cooking, crying babies, yelling neighbors, grumbles, creaks, and rattles paired with the artwork’s dark shadows and smudges—make the pages feel alive with life, grit, heart and noise. Pulled me right into the book. I was right there in the hallway with Ben and Sam.
Hope you drop by for a visit. This book is a slice of the city filled with all kinds of adventure and surprises. Come see what you can find in these pages, music, and story.
August 1, 2020
I picked this up because a friend and I were trying to think of stories involving kids in apartments and she mentioned this book. It has been a while since I've looked through a Keats book and I was impressed with how wonderful the pictures were and how well they have held up over the years. He achieved this by mostly vague portrayals of the two kids involved and completely vague illustrations of their new adult friend. What he did emphasize was Sam's cap. In some pictures it looks like your typical baseball cap, in others it looks absolutely enormous. It is all playing with shadows and really contributes to the atmosphere of the book. One day Sam hears harmonica music. He is curious where it comes from so starts to explore the apartment building he lives in. His little brother tags along. They stop and listen at every door which reveals a large slice of life in the area. Finally they get to the bottom floor and hide from the super who apparently hates everyone. They had noticed one last apartment that had a milk bottle outside. After the encounter with the super, they look again and the bottle is gone. They go to investigate and get invited in by a blind man who says he tells secrets with his harmonica and demonstrates a few of his secrets (Sam always slows down when he passes a certain girl's door, as well as other things). The description of the harmonica music is amazing! At the end, Sam asks the man if he'd like to go for a walk with them tomorrow. He answers with very happy harmonica music. This is an unusual book, in that it takes place in an apartment, and deals with the wonders of music in a very direct way as well as an implication of how friendship can relieve loneliness among people.
February 20, 2020
This is my favorite of the books by Ezra Jack Keats so far. It tells a beautiful story of the adventure to find the music in the apartment building. What a wonderful story!
January 24, 2021
Fellow book blogger and #imwayr community member, Linda of TeacherDance, recommended this picture book a few weeks back and I'm so grateful that we had a copy through our tri-college loan program. Apt. 3 is an apprehensive experience of sounds and smells as two young boys search their apartment complex to find the source of the music they hear. We discover a lot about the boys' neighbors just by the smells and sounds coming from behind each door (or by what they find in the hallway outside the door). In the end, they discover a neighbor they know very little about and the encounter is a bit frightening at first. But in no time, they're gaining empathy and appreciation. The copy I found is very old. In fact, the front cover had been rubbed so much that I hardly recognized the book cover on Goodreads. The beautiful illustrations look to be done with paint and collage.
For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!
For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!
January 29, 2025
Keats has a knack for dropping the reader into the story with no preamble, and the world-building is only in the pictures. So much outside the story doesn't matter. So much is left to the reader to work out and decide for themself. This story will haunt me; it might be my personal favorite by the author.
Yes, meeting a blind man is scary. But what I work out for my own interpretation is that he is the one who is scared. Note how the colors of the music change.... (I wonder if Keats had synesthesia....)
Yes, meeting a blind man is scary. But what I work out for my own interpretation is that he is the one who is scared. Note how the colors of the music change.... (I wonder if Keats had synesthesia....)
February 19, 2010
I love the dark and moody feel of the illustrations in Ezra Jack Keats' Apt. 3. Somehow through the illustrations I can actually hear the harmonica music that Sam and Ben are trying to track down in their apartment building. The writing is also very vivid: "He stood up suddenly, raised his harmonica to his mouth, and began to play. He played purples and grays and rain and smoke and the sounds of night." Can't you just hear that music?
March 1, 2019
This book was meant to be read aloud (preferably with a harmonica if you have one handy!) and enjoyed together to bring this little apartment complex to life. Love the moody art, the cast of characters, the nod to the communicative power of music, and the reminder of how closely we are all in each other’s lives even when we don’t try to be. Gotta love Ezra Jack Keats!
February 8, 2020
I found this book just no more than ten minutes ago while clearing space in my room. It wasn't even a month ago that I became aware of Ezra Jack Keats. It's a touching story that left me yearning more.
October 20, 2011
A pair of boys, some harmonica music, milk and a blind man.
February 22, 2015
Personal reflection - This was an interesting read. From the start, I was drawn to the book by it's dark and mysterious artwork on the cover. The book remained mysterious as the main characters, Sam and his little brother, Ben, searched their apartment complex for the sound of a harmonica being played somewhere in the building. Most of the apartments they stopped in front of were filled with unsettling noises coming from inside. The boys finally find the source of the music and, though timid of this stranger at first, they grow fond of him. Children will like the mystery of this book.
Purpose - Read aloud (2nd grade)
Curriculum - The main thing that jumped out at me was the artwork. The use of value esp. with regard to the dark made this book intriguing. This could make for a great demonstration of how an illustrator has an important job of displaying just what the author is saying. There is page that mentions that the boys neighbor man who plays the harmonica music they were searching for, is blind. I could ask the class if this could be the reasoning behind the dark colors and the mentioning of playing songs that sounded like "purples and grays" and "rain and smoke" and of the "sounds of night." I also believe that a teachable lesson stemming from this book is that friends can be found in the most unlikely ways. It would also be important to remind the class that even though this man was blind, he had heightened senses and knew exactly what was going on around him.
Purpose - Read aloud (2nd grade)
Curriculum - The main thing that jumped out at me was the artwork. The use of value esp. with regard to the dark made this book intriguing. This could make for a great demonstration of how an illustrator has an important job of displaying just what the author is saying. There is page that mentions that the boys neighbor man who plays the harmonica music they were searching for, is blind. I could ask the class if this could be the reasoning behind the dark colors and the mentioning of playing songs that sounded like "purples and grays" and "rain and smoke" and of the "sounds of night." I also believe that a teachable lesson stemming from this book is that friends can be found in the most unlikely ways. It would also be important to remind the class that even though this man was blind, he had heightened senses and knew exactly what was going on around him.
August 1, 2020
Living in a worn, tired apartment complex in New York City, Sam and his younger brother Ben one day curiously follow the rich sound of mysterious music that flows from one of the apartments in their building. Sam and Ben walk past door after door, hearing the variety of sounds that make up the city's human rhythm, from babies crying to televisions blaring to angry arguments between married couples, but it turns out to be the door they least expect that is home to the music they've been tracing. When Sam and Ben enter the apartment and meet the person behind the soulful melody that had first drawn them, the brothers learn that talent and wonder lives everyone, even right under their noses.
Never missing a beat, Ezra Jack Keats has once again done something impressive in the marriage of this story to its illustrations. The drawings perfectly capture the mood of the city and Sam and Ben's fascination with the unusual music that reaches their ears. In my mind, though, what really makes Apt. 3 is the way that the everyday sounds of the city are presented as a beautiful music of its own, as people young and old find themselves in the midst of struggling to make their way in life despite the specific obstacles that encumber each of them. The wordless acknowledgement of the unadorned beauty of that struggle is a worthy sentiment that Ezra Jack Keats expresses through his art as well as anyone.
Never missing a beat, Ezra Jack Keats has once again done something impressive in the marriage of this story to its illustrations. The drawings perfectly capture the mood of the city and Sam and Ben's fascination with the unusual music that reaches their ears. In my mind, though, what really makes Apt. 3 is the way that the everyday sounds of the city are presented as a beautiful music of its own, as people young and old find themselves in the midst of struggling to make their way in life despite the specific obstacles that encumber each of them. The wordless acknowledgement of the unadorned beauty of that struggle is a worthy sentiment that Ezra Jack Keats expresses through his art as well as anyone.
August 1, 2020
Sam and his little brother Ben explore their apartment building, trying to figure out who is playing music. After exploring all the floors and listening at all the doors. While waiting to see if a girl Sam likes will come home, they notice a door cracked open and when they peek in are told to come in. It is the blind man, who proves that he knows what is going on in the apartment building despite (or because of?) his blindness. He also is the harmonica player and his music clinches their new friendship.
I think it might be a bit much for my young Story Time crowd, but will have to remember it for class visits.
I also like it because I don't think there are enough apartment picture books.
I think it might be a bit much for my young Story Time crowd, but will have to remember it for class visits.
I also like it because I don't think there are enough apartment picture books.
November 3, 2019
On a rainy day, Sam hears someone playing the harmonica from an apartment somewhere in his building. Him and his brother go in search of from what apartment the music is coming from. They search and listen by each door until they find the apartment in question. But what they find inside of the apartment is more than what they expected to find.
March 13, 2017
I like that Keats has kids in their natural environments. Those aren't always white picket fence homes or beautiful forests. This is a gentle piece. And, while I understand the choice to make the illustrations darker, I didn't really like it.
October 2, 2018
I love the art and words of Ezra Jack Keats. Just enough abstract to have lots of meanings for many people and just enough realism to suggest things children know about. This one caught the wonder of a neighbor who "knows things" about him and his world. Kids liked this one too.
March 14, 2017
Reading this tale proved to me how much picture books have changed since I was a kid. A mystery, a solution and a great story.
March 25, 2017
Kinda creepy...
3/24/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
3/24/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
May 13, 2017
Moody illustrations outshine the story of two brothers' explorations of the secret lives of music and their neighbors' apartments - especially what's behind door number three.
August 25, 2017
Two boys explore their apartment on a rainy day looking for the Apartment that someone is inside playing the harmonica. They meet a neighbor who sees with his intuition, not with his eyes.
August 5, 2018
An excellent and relatively non-preachy story with lovely art.
August 17, 2018
Picture Book
October 16, 2018
Sam and Ben hear harmonica music in their apartment building, so they go listen outside every door until they find out who's playing the music. And they make a friend.
December 20, 2018
Intriguing story with illustrations that are mysterious, dark - sometimes hard to read black on dark blue, but it draws you in. Sets a nice mood - quite different from most books.
March 11, 2019
Really demonstrates the urban apartment life and community the POV of children with Keat's signature style.
September 24, 2021
My favorite Ezra Jack Keats. Similar to The Snowy Day in its ambling pace and open-ended window into childhood experience. Where The Snowy Day approaches the ordinariness of childhood with a greater interested in imagination, Apt. 3 focuses on the material world of people. Working class people, in a drab apartment building, where we meet an array of tenants that will feel very real. But at the core, this is a book about loneliness and friendship. It's extremely tender and loverly, and depending on the day and the state I'm in, reading it with Rowan can become a teary affair.
For Rowan's part, he's always really enjoyed reading this one too. He likes sounds in the text ("crunch, crunch, crunch") as well as the sounds I add to accompany the text for snoring, barking etc. He's always engaged and I think drawn to that gentle pace that reveals something new on each page. The text pairs perfectly with the illustrations to create a spacious and soothing experience, even while there's some pronounced melancholy and difficulty (tenants arguing, a grouchy superintendent, and finally our harmonica player). How the music is impressionistically described to pair with the colors and texture in the illustrations. The sense of mystery within art, people, and experience. The excitement for the next day. Hard to think of a picture book that so richly and beautifully captures such an immense range of human experience.
It's a book everyone should read.
For Rowan's part, he's always really enjoyed reading this one too. He likes sounds in the text ("crunch, crunch, crunch") as well as the sounds I add to accompany the text for snoring, barking etc. He's always engaged and I think drawn to that gentle pace that reveals something new on each page. The text pairs perfectly with the illustrations to create a spacious and soothing experience, even while there's some pronounced melancholy and difficulty (tenants arguing, a grouchy superintendent, and finally our harmonica player). How the music is impressionistically described to pair with the colors and texture in the illustrations. The sense of mystery within art, people, and experience. The excitement for the next day. Hard to think of a picture book that so richly and beautifully captures such an immense range of human experience.
It's a book everyone should read.
June 25, 2018
Apt. 3 is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, which tells a story about a boy named Sam and his younger brother Ben who goes investigating when they hear harmonica music being played as they tried to identify the musician.
The text is rather simple and straightforward. It is about a boy named Sam and his younger brother Ben trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious harmonica player. It's filled with childlike investigation by eavesdropping and hiding from the superintendent, which they're afraid of. The illustrations are wonderful done and is reminiscent of oil paintings and depict the text exceptionally well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It's rainy outside and Sam hears harmonica music, he's heard it before, but this time he'd find out who it is. Along for the investigation is his little brother named Ben as they eavesdrop from their top floor to the bottom. In the end, they found out that the harmonica musician is the blind man who lives in apartment number three (hence the title) as they made quick friends with him.
All in all, Apt. 3 is a wonderful children's book about two boys exploring and investigating their own apartment building and making new friends in the most unlikely places.
The text is rather simple and straightforward. It is about a boy named Sam and his younger brother Ben trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious harmonica player. It's filled with childlike investigation by eavesdropping and hiding from the superintendent, which they're afraid of. The illustrations are wonderful done and is reminiscent of oil paintings and depict the text exceptionally well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It's rainy outside and Sam hears harmonica music, he's heard it before, but this time he'd find out who it is. Along for the investigation is his little brother named Ben as they eavesdrop from their top floor to the bottom. In the end, they found out that the harmonica musician is the blind man who lives in apartment number three (hence the title) as they made quick friends with him.
All in all, Apt. 3 is a wonderful children's book about two boys exploring and investigating their own apartment building and making new friends in the most unlikely places.
September 13, 2017
Summary: The story of two children who live in a city apartment and go in search of the source of harmonica music they have heard before. They visit the doors of their neighbors to try to discover who is playing the strange music.
Evaluation: While I enjoyed the story itself, I cannot get past the fact that two children, who are obviously scared, enter into the apartment of a strange man who lives in their building. They do end up making friends with the man with the harmonica, but I would not read this story to my class because I feel it would be irresponsible to do so.
Teaching Idea: Because of the stranger-danger issue in the story, I would not use this text in my classroom as a teaching tool. However, the imagery painted in the words, especially those describing the music as colors, would be a good example of using descriptive words in writing.
August 27, 2020
Ages 6 and up. On a dark, rainy day, a boy named Sam tries to find the source of harmonica music playing in his run-down housing complex. The journey takes him from apartment to apartment, where he hears various sounds - many loud, some aggressive - until he meets the musician, who is blind. After a grumpy start, the two bond over his music and Sam can't wait for another visit. One of the few books to represent everyday life for kids in neglected areas without making poverty the central theme. Any fans of Ezra Jack Keats will know he was a pioneer of such representation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews