Corduroy by Don Freeman

Corduroy is a stuffed bear who lives in a department store. One day, a little girl spots him amongst the other stuffed animals and really wants to buy him. Her mother tells her that she has spent too much money and that Corduroy’s overall straps were broken. For most of the book, Corduroy spends his time looking for his lost button. In the end, he finds something even better than a lost button!

I recommend this book to young children. This book will allow them to empathize with Corduroy. “Living someone else’s life through a story can help children develop a sense of social justice and a greater capacity to emphasize with others.” (Short, Lynch-Brown, Tomlinson, 7) They could learn a valuable lesson of not judging a book by its cover.

Corduroy was my favorite book as a child because I always wondered what toys did when we weren’t around. Books and movies about toys coming to “life” were very intriguing to me. I hope that a child with the same curiosity will find pick up and enjoy this book. I also really enjoyed the fact that the little girl looked past Corduroys defective parts and chose him amongst the rest of the toys.

 

Reference
Short, K. G., Lynch-Brown, C., & Tomlinson, C. M. (2014). Essentials of Children’s Literature (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.