JOSEPH HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT

Sprightly Jewish dance music introduces this charming production of Simms Taback’s Caldecott-winning book. Rob Reiner gives the simple text a perfect narration: enthusiastic, yet not too fast, with just the tiniest hint of a Jewish European accent. An undercurrent of sounds supporting the pictures and the text runs undistractingly beneath Reiner’s voice. We hear dance music when Joseph goes to a wedding, choral music when he sings in a chorus, and the sound of him blowing his nose when he makes a handkerchief! The second side of the tape features identical narration without the page-turn signals. A captivating winner. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]