Reusing and Retelling

There are certain articles of clothing I like so much I find ways to keep them in use despite decades of wear. That said, I am not quite as resourceful as the grandfather in Jim Aylesworth's new book My Grandfather's Coat. As a young immigrant, "on the luckiest day of his life," he fell in love. A skilled tailor, he fashioned a handsome coat to wear on his wedding day. With rhythm, rhymes, alliteration, and repetition, the storyteller freshly retells the Yiddish folk song "I Had a Little Overcoat." Barbara McClintock's detailed watercolor illustrations add to the text as grandfather ages along with the blue cloth he adores, showing the passing fashions and family events along the way. It is a perfect picture book, combining entrancing words with supporting artwork and tied together with wonderful notes by the author and illustrator that encourage readers to reuse things in their world and seek stories retold in their families.