Joseph Has a Little Overcoat

Author: Simms Taback

Title: Joseph Has a Little Overcoat

Illustrator: Simma Taback

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Children's Book

Theme: You can always make something out of nothing.

Primary and secondary characters: Joseph and his Overcoat.  

Award(s) date of publication: Caldecott Award, 1999

Publishing Company: Viking

Brief Summary and how I would use this book with students: Joseph Has a Little Overcoat is a book about a man named Joseph. He has a overcoat that he really loves so he wears it all the time until one day it becomes worn out. He decides to make a jacket out of it. Then, once the jacket is worn out he makes a vest out of it. After the vest he makes a scarf, then a tie, then a hankerchief, and finally a button. Then one day he looses the button and decides to write a book about it. The book shows that you can always make something out of nothing. This book could be used in the classroom to teach children how to be creative and that they can use what ever they are given to create something amazing. This book could be read before giving the students something to use to make something else out of. By comparing and looking at each students end masterpiece the students can learn all the different things that were possible by something that seemed so insignificant.