Clever Nesting has found our “poster child” for creative repurposing. His name is Joseph, and he sure knows how to be resourceful.
I’ve been looking for quality books for my two-year-old, so I searched the Caldecott Award section of the library. I was thrilled to find Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. In this children’s story, Joseph has an overcoat which gets old & worn, so he makes it into a jacket. The jacket gets old & worn, so he makes a vest out of it. Eventually, he makes it into a scarf, necktie, etc. Plus, the author tells a little about what Joseph does when he’s wearing each garment item (he wore his jacket to the fair and his vest to his nephew’s wedding). This book is perfect for my children’s bookshelf, and I’m so glad I found it. Do you have suggestions for other good children’s books for my kids that have themes of resourcefulness, creativity, or conservation?
There is a book about Walden Pond called “Henry.” It’s about how Thoreau built his own cabin with the help of his friends. Henry is a bear, I think. We liked that book a lot when we got it from the library.
I can’t think of any others that fit that criteria at the moment. But, it was nice to be reminded of the Joseph book. I’ve read it, but hadn’t really explored the message before. What a great book that would be for a classroom, for lessons, discussion, general story-time.
Harold and the purple crayon is one of our favorites.
-E
“The Quiltmaker’s Gift” is a fabulous story with a great message and the illustrations are beautiful…