I love this book! The story of Joseph and his overcoat was adapted from a Yiddish folk song that the author knew as a child. Joseph, the man in the story starts out with an overcoat, which got old and worn, so Joseph cut it into a jacket. When the jacket got old and worn, he made it into a vest. When the vest was old and worn, he made it into a tie. Whe the tie was old and worn, he made it into a handkerchief. When the handkerchief was old and worn, he turned it into a button. One day, he lost the button and then he had nothing BUT he turned nothing into something by writing a book about his story.
We live in such a "throwaway" world, I think that Joseph's frugality can teach all of us (kids and adults) a lesson. You use what you have and be happy with what you have. We, as a society, seem to get farther and farther away from this idea every day. I thought about my mom when I read this book. She is one to never throw anything out as she may be able to use it again one day -- This is especially true with material. I am quite the opposite of her being that I throw things out because I don't like clutter. However, I am quite thankful for my mother keeping that old material when I need patches on my jeans!
The author, Simms Tabback is the author/illustrator of There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly which also won a Caldecott medal. I am a huge fan of this book as well! This book is illustrated in the same form as There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly with the die cut pages letting the reader in on the upcoming unraveling process of the garmet. Kids LOVE books with die cut pages, so that alone makes this book a winner with kids. The pages are cram packed with detail, leaving no blank space.
No comments:
Post a Comment