Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (1977)

Every page shows a new way that Joseph can reuse a piece of clothing that gets old and worn. He starts with an overcoat and never runs out of ideas even though the amount of material keeps getting smaller and smaller. This book uses die-cut holes in a unique way that is both visible and sometimes a little invisible too. Younger children will enjoy the repetition of certain, predictable phrases and older children will enjoy the mix of art techniques. ( )

Excellent illustrations, color, and cut-outs. Well told story of making the best out of what you have. ( )

Follow along as Joseph uses up an old coat until there is nothing left. The dye-cut forms cleverly created the next smaller piece of clothing as the previous piece gets worn. There is so much going on behind the main character. A book you can read and look at again and again. Curriculum: recycle

This book is about a man named Joseph who has an overcoat that he wears so much, it gets worn out. He repurposes the overcoat into a little jacket, a vest, and so on until he ends up turning it into a button and loses it entirely. He then decides to write a story about turning nothing into something. ( )

Based on a beloved Yiddish song. Beautifully and uniquely illustrated. Journey from coat to button to nothing so he made a book about it. ( )