Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Picture Book) (Award Winning)

I read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat written and illustrated by Simms Taback.  This book was published by Viking Books for Young Readers.  This is a story about a man named Joseph who starts out at the beginning of the story with a worn out overcoat.  Throughout the book, Joesph creates new articles of clothing out of what was once his overcoat.  This book teaches that you can always create something out of nothing.
     I think the illustrations in this book are extremely unique.  There are many different patterns on each page which give a lot of character to every page.  This book interacts children with cutouts on the pages that when the pages are turned, the next page reveals what the cutout creates. This story is a rather simple one for children to read and has a lot of repetitive language that will be easy for children to catch on and read along.  I think this book is a very special book to read and will have the children guessing what each page will reveal.
     I think a great classroom activity a teacher could do with their classroom would be to discuss different life situations where we can apply the moral of this story, you can always make something out of nothing.  I think it would be fun to give the students different small in class activities in which the students in small groups can work as a team to create something out of nothing.
     Subject: Perseverance

•   Genre: Children's Literature 
•   Awards: The Randolph Caldecott Medal

•   Here is a YouTube link to a video of a woman reading this book and wearing her own version of the overcoat in this book.  When Joseph creates a new article of clothing from his overcoat in the story, the woman reading this book takes apart her overcoat and follows what Joseph does in the book.  I think it would be awesome if I could create an overcoat like the one in this video and do what she does during my reading to my students.