Genre 2 Traditional Literature

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Written and Illustrated

by Simms Taback

1. Bibliography

Taback, Simms. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. New York: Viking, 1999. ISBN: 0670878553

2. Plot Summary

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat is a traditional tale based off of a Yiddish song.  Joseph, a peasant, begins the story with a plaid overcoat that becomes old and starts fraying at the edges.  Each time the plaid overcoat fabric becomes worn out Joseph turns it into something else to wear.  First Joseph turns the overcoat into a jacket and wears it for a long time.  The jacket becomes old and wo out and Joseph turns the jacket into a vest.  When the vest becomes tattered and torn Joseph turns it into a scarf.  The plaid fabric keeps getting turned into a different article of clothing until Joseph makes it into a button and loses the button.  When Joseph realizes he no longer has any piece of the original overcoat he has to use his creativity to make something out of nothing.    

3. Critical Analysis

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat is a traditional tale adapted from a Yiddish folk song.  The majority of the story takes place at Joseph’s house and in his town.  Simms Taback, the author and illustrator of this tale, keeps the reader guessing throughout the story as Joseph transforms the plaid overcoat fabric into different articles of clothing.  Taback uses watercolor, gouache, pencil, ink, and collage to create the captivating pictures in this story.  Each picture is outlined in black shading that draws the readers attention to the dark shades of color used in the pictures. 

This collage technique is blended so beautifully that it takes a second glance to see the real pictures mixed in with the watercolor pictures.  For example Taback drew yellow flowers outside Joseph’s house, and then put real pictures of flowers next to them on the pages.  Taback also cleverly cuts out the outline of the next article of clothing that the coat will be turned into on each page.  As the reader turns the page the cutouts make the jacket become a vest and the vest become a scarf.  Children will enjoy guessing the next article of clothing on each page. 

Taback also portrays cultural elements throughout the story with the background images.  The pictures and words show Joseph interacting with the people of his town who are wearing traditional clothing.  There are also objects such as a menorah and a dreidel on some of the pages.  Taback puts letters, newspapers, song lyrics, and saying on many of the pages with English and Hebrew writing on them to give the reader clues about Joseph’s culture.  The letters show that Joseph lives in Poland and communicates with family.  He also visits family in the story showing that family is an important part of his life and culture.  The lyrics and choir Joseph sings in show that music is important to him and the people of his town.  The sayings on Josephs walls and the way that Joseph turns his coat into different clothes when it gets worn out, show the simple side of Josephs life and that he is not wasteful.  The overall message that Taback portrays with this story is that “you can always make something out of nothing.”   

4. Review Excerpts

Caldecott Medal Award 2000
Winner of The National Jewish Book Award 1999

Publishers Weekly- As in his Caldecott Honor book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Taback's inventive use of die-cut pages shows off his signature artwork, here newly created for his 1977 adaptation of a Yiddish folk song. This diverting, sequential story unravels as swiftly as the threads of Joseph's well-loved, patch-covered plaid coat. A flip of the page allows children to peek through to subsequent spreads as Joseph's tailoring produces items of decreasing size. The author puts a droll spin on his narrative when Joseph loses the last remnant of the coat--a button--and decides to make a book about it. "Which shows...you can always make something out of nothing," writes Taback, who wryly slips himself into his story by depicting Joseph creating a dummy for the book that readers are holding.

Still, it's the bustling mixed-media artwork, highlighted by the strategically placed die-cuts, that steals the show. Taback works into his folk art a menagerie of wide-eyed animals witnessing the overcoat's transformation, miniature photographs superimposed on paintings and some clever asides reproduced in small print (a wall hanging declares, "Better to have an ugly patch than a beautiful hole"; a newspaper headline announces, "Fiddler on Roof Falls off Roof"). With its effective repetition and an abundance of visual humor, this is tailor-made for reading aloud. All ages. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

5. Connections

Discuss the message or moral of the story.  Talk about a time when you turned something old into something new.  Discuss concepts about recycling and talk about different ways to do so.   Plan a recycling project such as an old coat drive.

Talk about the different kinds of writing in the newspapers, letters, and sayings on the walls.  Then research information about Yiddish or Jewish culture.  Read other traditional books about the Jewish culture.

It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale by Margot Zemach ISBN: 978-0374436360

Beautiful Yetta: The Yiddish Chicken by Daniel Pinkwater ISBN: 978-0312558246

Chicken Man by  Michelle Edwards ISBN: 978-0688097080

Do an author study on Simms Taback.  Talk about Taback life and read other books written by Taback. Compare similarities in his illustrations and writing.  Discuss Jewish cultural elements he may include in other books.

Kibitzers and Fools by Simms Taback ISBN: 978-0670059553

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback ISBN: 978-0670869398

This is the House That Jack Built by Simms Taback ISBN: 978-0142402009

I Miss You Every Day by Simms Taback ISBN: 978-0670061921

Postcards From Camp by Simms Taback ISN: 978-0399239731

The Three Little Pigs

Written and Illustrated

    by Paul Galdone

1. Bibliography 

Galdone, Paul.The Three Little Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 1998. ISBN: 0395288134.

2. Plot Summary

The Three Little Pigs is a traditional tale about three pigs that leave their mother to set off on their own and build their own houses.  The first pig meets a man carrying straw and decides to build his house out of straw.  A wolf comes a long and blows the house down and eats the pig.  The second pig builds his house out of sticks.  The wolf comes to his house and blows it down and eats the second pig.  The third little pig builds his house out of bricks.  The wolf comes along and soon discovers he cannot blow this house down.  The wolf tries to find different ways to trick the little pig into coming out of his house, such as asking him to go with him to pick turnips at six o’clock the next day.  This little pig is smart and outwits the wolf each time the wolf tries to trick him.  The wolf ends up being the one that is out smarted at the end of the tale. 

3. Critical Analysis

Paul Galdone’s version of The Three Little Pigs stays true to the original tale.  This version is a little scarier than some of the new versions in that two of the pigs actually get eaten.  Some children might have difficulty dealing with the brutal lose of the two pigs.  The reading level of this book is 3.1 or third grade. The author includes scenes in this story that are often left out of newer versions.  When the wolf is trying to out smart the pig he asks him to go pick turnips at Mr. Smith’s farm, he asks him to pick apples at Merry Garden, and he asks him to go to a fair.  The pig goes to all of the places, but not at the time that the wolf asked him to meet him.  The scenes help to illustrate the cleverness of the pig and add to the good triumphs over bad theme.

Paul Galdone’s illustrations are drawn with watercolors and ink.  The colors are light pastels with some bright colors mixed in.  The characters in the story are all painted and drawn realistically.  The little pigs are peach colored with grey spots.  Galdone  uses thin strokes of black ink on the wolf’s hair and different shades of red, light yellow, brown, and grey that make the wolf look realistic.  When the wolf is out of breath from trying to blow down the brick house Galdone uses purple, pink, and blue water colors to show how hard he tried to blow.  The detailed pictures flow nicely with the action happening in the story and help the reader visualize this timeless tale.  Children of all ages would enjoy reading this classic version of The Three Little Pigs.

4. Review Excerpts

Paul Galdone is the winner of the Kerlan Award in 1996.  He also illustrated two Caldecott Honor books Anatole (1957 Caldecott Honor Book) and Anatole and the Cat (1958 Caldecott Honor Book).

School Library Journal- "All in all, a very appealing edition of a beloved story."

Horn Book Review- “Once upon a time there was an old sow with three little pigs. She had no money to keep them, so she sent them off to seek their fortune.” The illustrator has adapted Joseph Jacobs’ well-loved version of the tale and brought it to life in vibrant line-and-watercolor drawings. The ingenuous little pigs go out into the world and build their homes with materials given to them by smiling stubble-chinned peasants, until eventually the frighteningly wicked, yellow-eyed wolf — reminiscent of the villain in Galdone’s The Monkey and the Crocodile — forces each little pig to confront him. Small touches — the framed illustrations of each pig building his house, the portraits of Mama and his two brothers on the third little pig’s wall, and the four-leaf clovers hidden on the dust jacket and in the end papers — help make for a balanced, sunnily attractive picture book. SHERYL B. ANDREWS

5. Connections

After reading the story, put the students into groups and have the students write their own version of The Three Little Pigs.  Let the students illustrate their versions of the story and share them with the class.  Discuss what parts of the story they kept the same and what they changed.  With younger students create one class book together and let the students illustrate it.

Read other versions or variants of The Three Little Pigs.  Compare and contrast the different stories. 

The Three Little Pigs: An Old Story by Margot Zemach ISBN: 978-0374477172

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner ISBN: 978-0618007011

The True Story of The Three Little Pigs by Lane Smith ISBN: 978-0140544510

Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg ISBN: 978-0064437790

Perform a Reader’s Theatre of The Three Little Pigs.  Write your own script or use the one at the following website. 

http://www.dcs.edu/webpages/dknox/readers_theatre_.cfm?subpage=1276200

Joha Makes A Wish:

A Middle Eastern Tale

Adapted by Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrated by Omar Rayyan

1. Bibliography

Kimmel, Eric. Joha Makes A Wish. Ill. by Omar Rayyan. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. ISBN: 9780761455998

2. Plot Summary

Joha Makes a Wish is a traditional Middle Eastern tale based of off a Yemen folktale called “The Answered Prayer.”   In this folktale Joha, the main character, stumbles upon a wishing stick and soon discovers that every time he makes a wish the opposite happens.  Joha lands himself in a lot of trouble when he wishes for a wart on the Sultans nose to go away and the Sultans nose becomes covered in warts.  The Sultan sends guards after Joha and he hides in a shopkeepers wood chest. When Joha discovers from the local shopkeeper that he has been holding the wishing stick upside down, he tries to correct all his wishes.  Joha goes to the Sultan and wishes for his nose to go back to normal and the Sultan takes the stick and keeps it.  Even though Joha has no wishing stick, he ends up better off than the Sultan. 

3. Critical Analysis

Joha Makes A Wish is a classic wise fool noodlehead folktale.  The author’s note to the reader explains that the main character of this story is Joha, a character often found in folktales from Turkey, Iran, and central Asia.  The author portrays Joha as a poor and simple man of Middle Eastern descent.  One example of Joha’s simple ways might be when Joha is given the chance to wish for anything, he wishes for shoes because his are worn out.  However the sultan in the story is portrayed as rich, mean, and greedy.  He threatens to lock Joha in a dungeon when he does not want to make a wish for him and takes the wishing stick from Joha at the end of the story.  This tale is also a good triumphs over bad story.  When the wishing stick is taken from Joha by the sultan, Joha is given a donkey as a reward. He seems to get the better end of the bargain as we see a picture of the forlorn Sultan sitting in poverty under a tent. 

The illustrator Omar Rayyan, uses watercolors to paint detailed and comical pictures.  The illustrations lend themselves nicely to the story by elaborating on the emotions of Joha.  For example the author writes about how Joha wishes the stick would go away and becomes angry when it gets stuck to his hand.  The illustrator shows Joha in many different and funny positions yelling at the stick and trying to pry it from his hand.  Rayyan also uses earthy red, blue, green, brown, and gold colors throughout the story.  He uses gold, a color worn by royalty, for the Sultan and lines some of the pictures in gold trim with knotted designs on the corners.  Whenever Joha makes a wish the gold designs on the corners of the page separate and add to the image of magic happening in the picture.  The colors and gold trim also give the reader the impression they are in a Middles Eastern land. 

This story has an independent reading level of 3.2 or third grade.  Adults and children of all ages will enjoy this comical folktale.    

4. Review Excerpts

Winner of the 2010 Aesop Prize.

Winner of the 2010 Oregon Spirit Book Award (Children’s Book Category)

2012 Treasure State Award Nominee

School Library Journal-“A visual stunner coupled with a fantastic bit of storytelling, this one’s a winner. People of the world, take note.” (Review of the Day, June 1^st, 2010) Full Text Available at: School Library Journal, June 1, 2010 http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/06/01/review-of-the-day-joha-makes-a-wish-by-eric-a-kimmel/

School Library Journal- Joha's misadventures and the trouble he causes the sultan depart liberally from their folklore and cultural roots but offer an enjoyable escapade demonstrating that universal scheme of the unwitting little guy getting the better of those in power. The wishing scheme and fulsome pictures promise read-aloud fun.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Magazine- Joha Makes A Wish(2010; Kimmel, Eric A.; Marshall Cavendish Children); Excerpt: "Kimmel narrates with his usual wit and panache, nicely extended in Rayyan's watercolor illustrations, where humorously exaggerated characters are realized in tastefully muted colors while the action bursts energetically from elegant frames. A fine choice for storytelling." (Horn Book Magazine; May/June 2010, Vol. 86 Issue 3, p69-69, 1p)

5. Connections

Look up other names for Joha and read other similar traditional tales.  Do a character analysis of Joha based on the folktales and talk about his character traits. Ex. Wise Fool

The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World by Shahrukh Husain ISBN: 9781846862267

Goha The Wise Fool by Denys Johnson-Davies ISBN: 978-0399242229

Read The Answered Prayer, which the book Joha Makes A Wish was inspired by.  Discuss similarities and differences in the folktales in The Answered Prayer and Joha Makes A Wish.  Talk about why Eric A. Kimmel might have been inspired to write Joha Makes A Wish after reading The Answered Prayer.

The Answered Prayer: And Other Yemenite Folktales by Sharlya Gold ISBN: 978-0827607729

Read other traditional tales written by Eric A. Kimmel. Discuss similarities and talk about common elements found in the tales.

Other folktales retold and adapted by Eric. A. Kimmel:

Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock Retold by Eric A. Kimmel ISBN: 978-0823407989

Anansi and the Talking Melon Retold by Eric A. Kimmel ISBN: 978-0823411672The Golem Latkes Adapted by Eric A. Kimmel ISBN: 978-0761459040

The Greatest of All: A Japanese Folktale Retold by Eric A. Kimmel ISBN: 978-0823412037