Joseph Had a Little Over Coat

Author: Simms Taback

Title: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Illustrator: Viking

Genre: Children’s Picture Book                                                

Subgenre: Fiction

Theme:  resourcefulness

Primary Character: Joseph

Secondary Character:

Awards: Caldecott Medal

Publishing Company:  Penguin Company

Date of Publications: 1999

Summary of the book:

This is a very colorful book based on a Yiddish folksong. It is about Joseph who had a little overcoat. The overcoat was all torn and had holes in it. In the book it illustrates this by having die-cut holes in some of the pictures. Joseph took his old coat of holes and made it into a jacket, after the jacket became all torn with holes in it he made a vest, when the vest was old and torn, he made a tie, he continue to make things out of the worn out material, by the end when nothing was left, he thought he had nothing and that is when he decide to write a book about his little over coat. As, children read this book and turn the pages they can guess what Joseph will make next from his overcoat.

I would use this book for a lesson on recycling, it would be a lesson on how things can be reused and that you could make something out of nothing.  I could also use the book for an art lesson, the illustrations of the pictures in the book are so vivid and it also has the die-cuts on the pages. I could also use the book for a multicultural lesson in music, because at the end of the book there is a Yiddish song that goes a long with the story.