Jewish Joseph Had a Little Overcoat a Whimsical Delight For All

When I first spotted the title Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, I thought it might be a re-telling of one of my favorite Bible stories, the one that inspired Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. While the title does include a man named Joseph and a coat, this is not that story. Like the Genesis account, however, this is definitely a Jewish tale.

The author-illustrator is Simms Taback, who wanted to make a book out of a Yiddish song he loved as a child. The words and melody to that song - I Had a Little Overcoat - are included in the back of the book. The story itself, meanwhile, is very similar to the song, following a simple pattern to demonstrate the evolution of his overcoat: "Joseph had a little (article of clothing). It got old and worn. So he made a (new article of clothing) out of it and (did something)." The lettering, which Taback designed, is of a somewhat scrawled, hand-printed nature and adds to the impression of this as a homemade book.

Joseph is a poor Polish farmer who lives alone, though he has many friends and relatives and is always glad to share in their joyous occasions. The illustrations are stylized and full of bright colors. My favorite aspect of the pictures is picking out all the Jewish references; particularly prominent are the Hebrew letters scattered throughout and the many nods to Sholom Aleichem, who wrote the collection of stories upon which Fiddler on the Roof is based. Taback's illustrations also include several proverbs appropriate to the situation, such as "When the coat is old, only the holes are new" and "Better to have an ugly patch than a beautiful hole."

The holes actually are one of the most noteworthy components of the pictures, which were done with watercolor, Gouache, pencil, ink and collage. Every other right-hand page includes a hole cut in the shape of a particular garment. It escapes much notice in the context of that page as the subsequent right-hand page is cleverly designed to complement it, but it allows for the creation of a new garment once the page is turned. We witness the change from overcoat to jacket to vest and beyond as Joseph goes out of his way to make the most out of the materials he has been given, imparting a little lesson along the way about the value of recycling.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat is a delightful book that the youngest of readers can enjoy thanks to the extremely simple and repetitive narration, while older children will have fun poring over the detailed illustrations. It may not be Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, but this Caldecott winner is still a dream come true.