Charlie, a shepherd, needs a cloak and so, in the spring, he sets about shearing his sheep, washing and carding the wool and spinning it into yarn. Then in late summer he picks and boils poke-weed berries to dye the yarn red, in the fall he weaves the yarn into cloth and cuts and pins and sews the pieces, ""And then, when winter came, Charlie had a beautiful new red cloak."" That's all, but pink-smocked, contentedly industrious Charlie and the unobtrusive antics of his sheep and mouse add a comfortable glow to the simple summary of a process that will be new to preschoolers.