A New Coat for Anna

Written by Harriet Ziefert and Illustrated by Anita Lobel

Key Scriptures:
Matthew 6:19-21 (NNAS) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. {20} "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; {21} for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

John 6:5-14 - The story of the little boy sharing his lunch at the feeding of the 5000.

This delightful tale of a daughter's patience and a mother's sacrifices in the process of obtaining a new coat was a natural follow-up to our study of Warm as Wool. We reviewed the process of how a garment is made - from raw wool to finished product - using various means: The "Mimi's New Sweater" sequencing activity from the SheepUSA web-site and some neat teaching materials provided by Pendleton Wool.

We had lots of opportunity for discussing "real life" happenings as related to this book. Justin had been needing a new coat, and we had the opportunity to shop for and buy one for him, just as we were beginning this book! While we were shopping, the kids decided that they wanted to write their own story about Justin's new coat. Claire proclaimed that it shouldn't start with "Once upon a time" as it would be a true story and not a fictional one! Our original attempt at their story was not particularly successful - it came out sounding very stilted (not as if the story was their own) so Jerry suggested that we try again. He sat down with the kids and the tape recorder and had them tell him their story. You can read a partial transcript of this storytelling session by clicking here.

After they finished telling the story, Claire also read aloud Charlie Needs a Cloak and Pelle's New Suit and we compared these stories (and the process involved) with Warm as Wool and A New Coat for Anna. We noted that in some of the stories, one person did all or most of the work and in others, a whole series of workers was involved. We compared the making of Anna's coat (and all the people involved) to the making of my wedding gown and how many ladies had been involved in that process. (My maid of honor designed it; my mother made the basic dress, and another seamstress friend did much of the embellishment and final fitting work.)

We also talked about the purpose for measurement and patterns and how we need to use resources wisely (stewardship). We remembered how Grandma had taken Claire's measurements in order to make her Christmas dress and be certain that it fit properly. We also remembered the process we went through when I made the children's lamb costumes for the Christmas program at church: How I measured carefully; how I used some inexpensive fabric to figure out the best way to make their hats before using the final fabric, etc.. We were also in the process of finding a new bed for Claire and showed how important measurement was when we determined that the bed we were considering would not fit in her room! Once we made the decision about the bed, we also discussed the importance of making wise choices and being a good steward of resources when choosing the linens (choosing something that she would like even as she gets older, not something that she would tire of quickly).

We also enjoyed a paper weaving activity with this book. As we did this activity, we had a brief introduction to the terms warp, weft, shuttle, and shed. The kids remembered this paper weaving activity a couple of months later when we visited the Children's Museum in Houston and they had the opportunity to do some weaving there.

We placed our story disk for this book on the region of Scandinavia rather than on a specific country. Throughout our time of studying this book, I had been trying to determine (from various things mentioned within the book and some outside resources) where we should place the disk, and never found an answer that fully satisfied me. However, in the process, I did learn a good bit more about WWII. One of the resources that I came across in my search was an autobiography by Antia Lobel (the illustrator) called No Pretty Pictures. Although not a book for young children, it was helpful to me as an adult to read her perspective as a child who was greatly affected by the war. (It also helped me determine that Sweden was not the setting for A New Coat for Anna as Sweden had remained neutral and therefore did not experience the bombing damage that was indicated through the illustrations.) Learning that lingonberries are a traditionally Scandinavian food led me to decide on the region in general for the story disk.

We also talked about how Anna's mother sacrificed some of her precious earthly possessions in order to provide something her daughter needed. We talked about how this was like laying up treasures in heaven, because the "nice things" that Anna's mother sacrificed were earthly things that could be lost or stolen or ruined, but how the memories of making the coat and how her mother had sacrificed in order for her to have it would far outlast the "things" that were sacrificed to obtain the coat.

When Claire was ready to do her journal entry illustration for this book, she showed some neat creativity. Not only did she do a lovely job of copying some of the illustrations from the book, she also decided (on her own) that she wanted to have her picture include matching of the items bartered to the step in the process. You can see her journal entry and illustration here.