Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
by Simms Taback
The coat wore out. He made something better. Again and again.
your child needs to see that when something wears out it becomes the beginning of something new
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Joseph has an old overcoat. When it gets worn out he makes it into a jacket. When the jacket wears out he makes it into a vest. Then a scarf. Then a necktie. Then a button. And when there's nothing left, he makes a story out of it. Taback based this on a Yiddish folk song and won the Caldecott Medal for the die-cut illustrations that show exactly what each new thing is made from. A picture book about Jewish immigrant resourcefulness, about making something from nothing, about the refusal to waste what you have. The most joyful anti-consumerism picture book ever made for small children — not because it lectures about waste but because it makes creativity out of scarcity feel like the most natural thing in the world.
