- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Viking Juvenile (Oct 25 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0670878553
- ISBN-13: 978-0670878550
- Product Dimensions: 27.7 x 22.5 x 1.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#15,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #34 in Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Stories
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
When Joseph's favorite overcoat gets old and worn, he makes a jacket out of it. When the jacket is more patches than jacket, Joseph turns it into a vest. When the vest's number is up, Joseph makes a scarf. This thrifty industry continues until there's nothing left of the original garment. But clever Joseph manages to make something out of nothing! (And that's the foreshadowed moral of the story.)
In today's throwaway world, Joseph's old-fashioned frugality is a welcome change. Based on a Yiddish song from Simms Taback's youth (lyrics and music reproduced on the last page), the book is filled with rhythms and arresting colors that will delight every reader. As more and more holes appear in Joseph's coat, die-cut holes appear on the pages, hinting at each next manifestation. The illustrations are striking, created with gouache, watercolor, collage, pencil, and ink. Every inch of space is crammed with fanciful, funny details, such as the headline on a discarded newspaper: "Fiddler on Roof Falls off Roof." Taback, esteemed creator of the Caldecott Honor-winning There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and the classic Too Much Noise, has produced a picture book that is as well turned out as its dapper hero. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
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 coatAa buttonAand 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. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Joseph had a little overcoat. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Joseph had a little overcoat. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joseph is Superb,
By Dule (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Hardcover)
This 4th edition of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat varies from its 1977 version in that the watercolor, Gouache, pencil, ink and collage artwork draws attention to subtle message in the terse, repetitive storyline. "Joseph had...So he made...out of it." Clues in the pictures provide important background information like a letter with Joseph's full name that informs us that he's a Jewish man living in Poland; a menorah; pictures hanging in his unkempt farmhouse. Also eye-pleasing are the cut-outs throughout the book that outlines subsequent clothing - all from one disheveled overcoat. Simms Taback uses every square inch of every double-page spread illustration for something. There is boldness in color in everything. It is to be enjoyed by both the reader and the listener, like producers of children's cartoons have grown to understand. Presumably, pictures of real historical figures decorate the pages and house of Joseph. Molly Picon hangs on the wall left of Maurice Schwartz, and a chapter of an open book reads "If I Were a Rothschild" by a Mr. Aleichem. This book is a perfect example of pictures sometimes meaning more than words, even though the few words actually drive the story. Intended for ages 4-8, the whole can receive something substantive from Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.
5.0 out of 5 stars
WV State College Student,
By A Customer
This review is from: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Hardcover)
I am a student at West Virginia State College currently taking a class called Children's Literature. Our instructor required us to read a Caldecott Medal book as part of our assignment and write our personal view of the book. This is a great children's book. This book is about a man named Joseph who had an overcoat, which gets old and worn and he makes a jacket out of it. Once the jacket gets olds and worn, he makes a vest out of it. Joseph continues to make something out of the overcoat until there is nothing left to make out of it. The moral of the story is you can always make something out of nothing. The pictures in this book are very bright and colorful. The pages in the book have cut outs so the children can use their imagination and guess what Joseph will make next. This would be a great book to read aloud in a classroom for children of ages 5 - 8.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brillant Illustrations,
By Sarah Gaines (So Cal, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Hardcover)
I can't emphasize enough how much I enjoy this book. The story and illustrations are wonderful and captivating. Don't overlook even the background in this fun jewish folktale. This author/artist has one die hard fan in me... Oh, yeah, and my two year old likes it, too!
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