Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Based on Simms Taback's 2000 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book, this animated adaptation by Daniel Ivanick, backed with klezmer music by Joel Goodman and David Bramfitt, and narrated by Rob Reiner, is based on a Yiddish folk song about a resourceful tailor named Joseph. When Joseph's overcoat becomes "old and worn," he pares it down to a vest…and then a scarf, necktie, handkerchief, and button, before it disappears (and even then Joseph writes a book about it, reminding viewers that "you can always make something out of nothing"). Once the original tale is finished, the whole thing is repeated as a song. While the patchwork iconographic animation is colorful and the underlying message combining resourcefulness and recycling is well worth underscoring, the one-note plot (done twice, no less, as an almost identical story and song) is unlikely to wow children used to more sophisticated and imaginative fare. Optional. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)