about the book
When a girl’s grandfather came to America, he became a tailor. He made himself a handsome coat that he wore on his wedding day.
But he didn’t wear it just that day. He wore it, and wore it, and wore it until it was all worn out!
Being the thrifty tailor that he was, he didn’t throw the coat out. Instead “he snipped and clipped-/and he stitched and he sewed” making himself a smart jacket.
How many things can Grandfather make from what was once his handsome coat?
about the author
Jim Aylesworth didn’t always plan to be a teacher and writer. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Jim’s family bounced around to five different states before they settled in Hinsdale, Illinois, when he was fifteen. Although he loved books as a youngster and studied English at Miami University in Ohio, he accepted a position as a stock broker.
Somehow Jim ended up accepting several substitute teaching assignments. Once in a first grade class room, he knew he’d have to leave the lucrative business world for one surrounded by active little minds. He became an award-winning teacher, working in the classroom for over 25 years.
Although the kids loved his stories, publishers didn’t seem so enthusiastic. Jim received a lot of rejection letters, but his students encouraged him to keep at it. He finally published his first book—followed by 34 more!
Although he no longer works daily in a classroom, Jim travels extensively, visiting schools and libraries and talking to young people about reading and writing. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons.
Source:
Author website
Also by Jim Aylesworth:
Cock-a-Doodle-Doo, Creak, Pop-Pop, Moo. Holiday House. 2012.
The Mitten. Scholastic. 2009.
Our Abe Lincoln. Blue Sky. 2009.
about the illustrator
Born and raised in Clinton, New Jersey, Barbara McClintock always drew. It was her older sister who suggested she become a children’s book illustrator…the only good advice she took from her sister.
When she was nine, Barbara’s parents divorced and she moved to North Dakota with her mom and sister. Her mom eventually remarried to a cowboy who gave Barbara a horse. Although she spent hours with the animal, her first love remained drawing.
Barbara went to Jamestown College, but there were no classes in children’s book illustration. After contacting famed illustrator Maurice Sendak, who gave her advice, Barbara moved to New York City. Mainly self-taught, she found work designing characters for television and illustrating books for Jim Henson.
Inspired by a play she saw, Barbara went home and created an 87-page illustrated book mock-up. She received sixteen rejections before it sold. That first book won the New York Times Best Books Award. Barbara now illustrates and writes full time in the rural 1815 home she shares with her family in Connecticut.
Source:
Illustrator website
Also by Barbara McClintock:
Where’s Mommy? (Mary and the Mouse) BY Beverly Donofrio. Schwartz + Wade. 2013.
Adele & Simon in America. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2008.
A Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter. ABDO Publishing Company. 2007.
Adele & Simon. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2006.
read more!
I Like Old Clothes by Mary Ann Hoberman
A little girl loves collecting and dressing up in hand-me-down clothes. She and her young brother pile on a marching-band jacket and a flannel shirt with equal enthusiasm. She even tries “to imagine / The places they’ve been / And the faces they’ve seen- / And whose clothes they’ll be” in the future. What kind of outfits has she collected?
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
Joseph, a farmer and tailor, snips the patches off his old and worn overcoat making it into a new jacket. When the jacket is beyond repair, he turns it into a vest. When that is bedraggled, he makes it into a scarf, then into a tie, and finally a handkerchief. In the end, what does he have left?
The Mitten : A Ukranian Folktale by Jan Brett
Nicki’s grandma knitted him a brand new pair of white mittens, but he lost one when he went out to play in the snow. A mole found the mitten and snuggled into it. He was soon joined by a rabbit, hedgehog, owl, badger, fox, a bear and a tiny mouse! When the mouse tickles the bears nose, he sneezes and all the animals end up out in the snow. But what happened to the mitten?