The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Taback, Simms

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

36 pp. | Viking | October, 1999 | Trade ISBN 0-670-87855-3 $$15.99
1977, Random

(2) K-3 In this newly illustrated adaptation of a Yiddish folk song, die-cuts help tell the story of resourceful Joseph, a farmer/tailor, who recycles his worn overcoat into ever-smaller items. A mixture of painting and collage create a somewhat surreal but delightful effect; details in the art make this a pageant of pre-WWII Jewish-Polish life. Clever, humorous, visually engrossing, poignant, this tribute to a vanished way of life is worth holding on to.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2000