Taback, S. (1999). Joseph had a Little Overcoat. New York: Viking.Summary
This is a wonderful book about the power of recycling and celebrating the permutations of what you have. Joseph starts with an overcoat which whittles down to a vest and then a tie and eventually to a button. The button is lost but even then, Joseph writes a book about his overcoat that allows it to live on in memory.
My Impressions
I absolutely loved this book. Not only does it teach a great lesson without being moralistic or didactic but it is also creatively illustrated with cutouts showing each new permutation of the life of the coat. There are also interesting background illustrations showing pictures of family members and other books. Well written story and wonderfully detailed in illustration.
Professional Reviews
Pre-Gr 3-A book bursting at the seams with ingenuity and creative spirit. When Joseph's overcoat becomes "old and worn," he snips off the patches and turns it into a jacket. When his jacket is beyond repair, he makes a vest. Joseph recycles his garments until he has nothing left. But by trading in his scissors for a pen and paintbrush he creates a story, showing "you can always make something out of nothing." Clever die-cut holes provide clues as to what Joseph will make next: windowpanes in one scene become a scarf upon turning the page. Striking gouache, watercolor, and collage illustrations are chock-full of witty details-letters to read, proverbs on the walls, even a fiddler on the roof. Taback adapted this tale from a Yiddish folk song and the music and English lyrics are appended. The rhythm and repetition make it a perfect storytime read-aloud. --School Library Journal; Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada, 2000. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
Ages 4^-7. This newly illustrated version of a book Taback first published in 1977 is a true example of accomplished bookmaking--from the typography and the endpapers to the bar code, set in what appears to be a patch of fabric. Taback's mixed-media and collage illustrations are alive with warmth, humor, and humanity. Their colors are festive yet controlled, and they are filled with homey clutter, interesting characters, and a million details to bring children back again and again. The simple text, which was adapted from the Yiddish song "I Had a Little Overcoat," begins as Joseph makes a jacket from his old, worn coat. When the jacket wears out, Joseph makes a vest, and so on, until he has only enough to cover a button. Cut outs emphasize the use and reuse of the material and add to the general sense of fun. When Joseph loses, he writes a story about it all, bringing children to the moral "You can always make something out of nothing." --Booklist; Tim Arnold; Accessed 2010. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
As in his Caldecott Honor book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Taback's inventive use of die-cut pages shows off his signature artwork, here newly created for his 1977 adaptation of a Yiddish folk song. This diverting, sequential story unravels as swiftly as the threads of Joseph's well-loved, patch-covered plaid coat. A flip of the page allows children to peek through to subsequent spreads as Joseph's tailoring produces items of decreasing size. The author puts a droll spin on his narrative when Joseph loses the last remnant of the coat-a button- and decides to make a book about it. "Which shows... you can always make something out of nothing," writes Taback, who wryly slips himself into his story by depicting Joseph creating a dummy for the book that readers are holding. Still, it's the bustling mixed-media artwork, highlighted by the strategically placed die-cuts, that steals the show. Taback works into his folk art a menagerie of wide-eyed animals witnessing the overcoat's transformation, miniature photographs superimposed on paintings and some clever asides reproduced in small print (a wall hanging declares, "Better to have an ugly patch than a beautiful hole"; a newspaper headline announces, "Fiddler on Roof Falls off Roof"). With its effective repetition and an abundance of visual humor, this is tailor-made for reading aloud. All ages. --Publishers Weekly; October 1999. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
I think this book would make a great story time book and lends itself quite naturally to a craft project. The creativity of the main character Joseph in continuing to recycle the coat into different variations is a great idea. This book can be read out loud and then the children can either draw the different looks of the coat in the story or use the idea as a starting point to draw an item they love along with ways that item can be adapted once it is worn out.
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SLIS 5420/Module 3, Book 1
Caldecott Winners
September 6-12, 2010
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