A review by veritas19
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

5.0

I think Simms Taback is my favorite author/illustrator! I love his mixture of murals and paintings. He uses so many bright colors in the peoples clothing, the animals and in the scenery. Joseph started with a little over coat and it got smaller and smaller with each two page spread. The over coat became a jacket, the jacket became a vest, the vest became a scarf, the scarf became necktie, the necktie became a handkerchief and the handkerchief became a button which he eventually lost. Then he had nothing in the end and the moral, you can make anything out of nothing. That is a great moral, especially for the aspiring artist. This was a nice engineered book because he used the hole to show how the overcoat made its transformation. I love his mural work with the flowers and vegetables. I especially like the newspaper clippings, black and white pictures of people and the people in the windows when he went to meet his sister. There is a lot of work put into his books and I enjoy every page of it. I wish I knew the Yiddish tune at the end because I'm sure this would be a fun song to sing too. I love Mr. Tabacks work and I hope I can find and read more of his books soon. Ages 4-8