{"id":315,"date":"2008-10-14T22:08:34","date_gmt":"2008-10-15T03:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/315"},"modified":"2008-10-14T22:08:34","modified_gmt":"2008-10-15T03:08:34","slug":"teaching-economics-with-childrens-literature-a-new-coat-for-anna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2008\/10\/14\/teaching-economics-with-childrens-literature-a-new-coat-for-anna\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Economics with Children’s Literature: A New Coat for Anna"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The\u00a0book\u00a0A New Coat for Anna<\/a><\/em>, written by\u00a0Harriet Ziefert and illustrated by\u00a0Anita Lobel,\u00a0takes place right after World War II and tells the story of young Anna, who has outgrown her\u00a0old winter coat. As a result of the war, money, food, and other goods, including clothes, are still\u00a0very scarce and Anna’s mother does not have enough money to buy her a new coat:<\/p>\n

Last winter Anna’s mother had said, “When the war is over, we will be able to buy\u00a0things again and I will get you a nice new coat.” But when the war ended the stores remained empty. There still were no coats. There was hardly any food. And no one had any money.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anna’s mother must make choices about what she will buy and\u00a0decides to exchange the few valuable items she has left for the services of a farmer, a spinner, a weaver, and a tailor to make Anna a new coat.<\/p>\n

“Anna, I have no money,” she said, “but I still have Grandfather’s gold watch and some other nice things. Maybe we can use them to get what we need for a new coat.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story takes readers through all the steps involved in the production of Anna’s new coat.\u00a0First, Anna and her mother go to the farmer and offer to trade grandfather’s gold watch for\u00a0enough wool to make the coat. When spring comes, the farmer sheers his sheep and gives Anna’s mother a big bag of wool. Anna and her mother then take the wool to the spinner and offer to give her a beautiful lamp if she will spin the wool into yarn. After receiving the yarn, Anna decides that she would like\u00a0her coat to be red,\u00a0so she and her mother pick lingonberries and dye the yarn red. Then they take the red yarn to the weaver and ask her to weave it into cloth in exchange for a garnet necklace. Two weeks later, Anna and her mother take the cloth to the tailor, who measures Anna and makes her coat in exchange for a porcelain teapot.<\/p>\n

At the end of the story, Anna proudly wears her new red coat home and shows her appreciation for everyone who helped make her coat by telling her mother that she would like to invite the farmer, the spinner, the weaver, and the tailor to come to their Christmas celebration.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong>
\nA New Coat for Anna <\/em>would be an excellent book to use as part of an economics lesson\u00a0on scarcity,\u00a0specialization, and\/or barter and trade. This book includes\u00a0numerous details about\u00a0the producation of Anna’s coat and clearly explains the role of the farmer and his sheep, the spinner, the weaver, and the tailor.\u00a0\u00a0It also reveals the benefits of specialization, as each of these people are able to trade their services for valuable items. The book is simple enough to be read to Kindergartners or first graders but also contains sufficient details to be used as an introduction to a 3rd or 4th grade lesson on scarcity and specialization.<\/p>\n

In Virginia, this book relates to\u00a0social studies\u00a0SOLs 1.8, 2.8, 2.9, and 3.8, which state that students will<\/p>\n