If you are in need of a new coat, you should read A New Coat for Anna, written by Harriet Ziefert and illustrated by Anita Lobel. This story is set during World War II, a time when many things were very hard to come by. It is based on a true story, and is lovingly told, both in the gentle loving words and in the soft loving pictures. It begins this way:
"Winter had come and Anna needed a new coat. The fuzzy blue coat she had worn for so many winters was no longer fuzzy and it was very small."
But Anna's new coat turns out to be a very slow coat, for she and her mother cannot go to a store to buy a new coat. The stores are empty, and they have no money.
So they go to the sheep instead.
(The number 4 in the pink dot on the upper left-hand corner of the book in the photo above was to indicate which basket of books in my classroom this book belonged in, a very informal system whose rhymes and reasons elude me now.)
The sheep are wonderfully fluffy-white, and the farmer is willing to trade their wool for a fine gold watch. But Anna must wait until spring for the sheep to be sheared.
And so begins the long slow wait for the long slow coat.
Anna visits the sheep every Sunday, bringing them hay, hugs, paper necklaces, and apples. I love it that this story takes the time to establish a friendship between the sheep and Anna, making the new coat something that comes about because of a loving relationship between people and animals.
Most of us no longer have our own sheep grazing in our backyards or just down the street at a neighbor's, but it is so important that we do not forget where everything comes from.
Finally, spring comes, and the shearing comes, and Anna receives a big bag of wool.
This illustration is from the title page, showing the mother and daughter in their war-torn world, waiting at a window. There is a quietness in this book, a lesson about picking up the pieces, and slowly, slowly, finding something new and bright again.
The bag of wool is taken to a woman with a spinning wheel, where a lamp is traded for the spinning. Then Anna and her mother gather lingonberries to dye the new yarn a beautiful red, and the red yarn is hung in fantastic loops to dry in the kitchen.
Then a weaver is given a garnet necklace to weave the yarn into a bolt of cloth. A tailor is given a teapot to make the cloth into a red coat. Measuring with a tape measure must take place, and then:
"The tailor set to work making a pattern, cutting the cloth, pinning, and sewing and stitching and snipping."
And, finally, Anna has a new red coat! On the last page, she visits the sheep to thank them for her pretty coat.
It is mind-boggling, really, to think of how much is in such a small book: World War II, sacrifice, bartering, sheep and shearing, spinning wheels and spinning, dyes and dyeing, looms and weaving, patterns and measuring, and some new vocabulary words, such as "carding" the wool and lingonberries.
If you have a child or a grandchild who needs a new coat, now might be the time to make friends with some friendly sheep . . .
And if you live in a place where winter is still upon you, I hope you have a coat to keep you warm, a fire to keep you cozy, and a very good book to keep you company. Happy weekend!
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