Book of the Day: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
Simms Taback
Viking (1999)

Just as Mirette gets a free book each month from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, she also gets a Jewish-themed book from the PJ library once a month.

 All families raising Jewish children from age six months of age through eight years are eligible.  If you are in an area that supports this program, it's free.   I called them and they told me it would be sixty dollars for a subscription, but then I called again (because my friend offered to buy it for us) and we were suddenly eligible for our free books.   Yipee!

Alas, unlike good ol' Dolly, we find the books to be mediocre at best--great for learning about Jewish themes, but not  selected for their amazing drawings and word-play.  Just ask Steve, my non-Jewish hubby,  how he feels about reading Hoppy Hanukkah for the umpteenth time.  Groan.

All this to say, we FINALLY got a PJ book worthy of mention in this blog:  Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.  Yipee.   The book won the Caldecott Medal in 2000 and with good reason--the pictures, made using watercolor, Gouache, pencil, ink, and collage are stunning and the story is very clever.

Based on a Yiddish folk song, it uses cut-outs to show Joseph's coat becoming smaller and smaller--coat to vest to scarf etc.   The idea is that you can always make something out of nothing.   

The first thing I learned about Simms Taback is that he died December 25th, 2011 at the age of 79 of pancreatic cancer.   .   He won a Caldecott Honor for his book There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and he also wrote a book called When I First Came to this Land (one of my favorite songs to sing with Mirette).   I also learned that he made posters for schools and libraries that you can buy.   They'd be great for a child's room.  He designed the first ever Happy Meal Box (okay that's kind-of weird in my opinion) and started the Graphic Artist Guild. Another cool fact:  he actually wrote the book in the 70's and it was under-appreciated.   He re-did it thinking today's society may be more interested in the topic.   Lo and behold, he was correct!  

Here's his obituary:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/simms-taback-writer-and-illustrator-of-childrens-boohttp://www.simmstaback.com/This_Is_The_Official_Simms_Taback_Site.htmlks-dies-at-79.html

And his website:  http://www.simmstaback.com/This_Is_The_Official_Simms_Taback_Site.html

Great interview:  http://www.creativeparents.com/simmsinterv.html