Coco and the Little Black Dress

Gr 2–4—This modern-day fairy tale chronicles the rags-to-riches story of French fashion designer Coco Chanel. When Chanel was a child, her father sent her to live in an orphanage, where she developed marketable skills such as embroidery, sewing, knitting, mending, and crochet. As a young woman, Chanel found work as a seamstress and spent her nights singing and dancing in nightclubs. There, she befriended wealthy individuals, who often invited her to stay with them. Chanel took careful note of what activities and adornments the rich enjoyed and figured out how to improve them with her own flair, for instance, sewing her own pair of riding jodhpurs. Upon invitation to the races, Chanel bought straw boater hats from a thrift store and added her own embellishments; soon, there was enough demand that she was able to start a hat shop. Determined never to wear a corset, Chanel began designing functional dresses that included pockets. Her legacy, though, was her perfume and her Little Black Dress, which highlights the beauty of the woman wearing it. Van Haeringen's spare artwork is simply beautiful and reflects Chanel's approach to fashion. Vibrant touches of watercolor among delicate pen-and-ink drawings bring to mind Ludwig Bemelmans's Madeline. Infused with humor, this Cinderella-esque tale should appeal to readers. The book lacks back matter, however, making it more suitable for pleasure reading than for report writing.