Joseph Had a Little Overcoat: Book Review

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat: Book Review

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Taback, Simms. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. New York: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1999. ISBN 0670878553

PLOT SUMMARY

Joseph has a well-loved and well-worn overcoat. On no, the overcoat is falling apart! Resourceful Joseph uses his overcoat to make a jacket. When the jacket starts to come apart, Joseph uses it to make a nice vest. Each time the item of clothing gets worn, Joseph chooses to create something new out of it instead of letting it go to waste. When the last bit of his beloved overcoat is gone, he uses it to inspire a book, proving that you ‘can always make something out of nothing’!

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This story is an adaptation of a Yiddish song (translated lyrics provided at the end of the book), telling the story of Joseph, a Yiddish farmer. This book is full of Yiddish cultural elements, illustrations including images of real individuals, Yiddish newspaper articles and books, appropriately themed clothing and building structures, etc. Though the text is sparse, with Joseph himself never speaking and the only text occurring through narration, the book is easy to comprehend, using repetition and allowing children to attempt their best guess at what the overcoat will become next. This is seen throughout the entire book in the way the author uses his words to explain how the clothing is wearing out, so it becomes something else. This occurs every other page throughout the entirety of the book. In the end, this book teaches a valuable lesson; ‘you can always make something out of nothing’.

Simms Taback’s book is vibrantly illustrated, incorporating crafty collage work into his book imagery, mixing illustrations with real photographic images of faces and other objects (such as newspaper headings in Yiddish, books, and vegetables). The use of Yiddish in these imagery ties in important cultural aspects, and provides the audience with insight and clarification that this is a culture that may be different from their own, as seen with the the images of the newspapers and books. Taback also uses a cut-away art technique to create anticipation, urging the book’s readers to try to guess what the cut out shape means, and what the overcoat will become with each flip of the cut-out pages. The immense detail serves to captivate readers, keeping them glued to the book, eager to see what else they can find hidden among the book’s collage artwork.

This is a fantastic book for both children and adults alike to enjoy. The story and artwork will delight all readers, and make it hard for readers to put this book down!

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Caldecott Medal Winner

National Jewish Book Award for Children’s Picture Book

From Publishers Weekly: “It’s the bustling mixed-media artwork, highlighted by strategically place die-cuts, that steals the show…With its effective repetition and an abundance of visual humor, this is a tailor-made for reading aloud.”

From Common Sense Media: “A vibrantly illustrated and simply patterned story…it will nudge its way onto your list of favorites.”

CONNECTIONS

This book can be used to teach children how to be less wasteful and to recycle old clothes to make something new.

Use to teach children about mixed-media illustrations, leading to a collage-type art project.

Read more Simms Taback books such as:

• ·         There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. ISBN 0670869392
• ·         This is the House That Jack Built. ISBN 0142402001