Module 2: Corduroy

  Book Summary: Corduroy is a bear that lives on a department store shelf until a girl named Lisa finds him and promptly falls in love with him.  Her mother tries to talk her out of getting him because he was missing a button.  Corduroy sneaks off the shelf to search for his button, but was returned to the shelf.  The next day Lisa returns to the store with her own money from her piggy bank.  She buys Corduroy, takes him home, sews a new button on and loves him.

My Impressions: This book is a classic.  The book relates to many children who have stuffed animals as a friend.  Corduroy is more for the younger crowd and was enjoyed by our family for many years.  There are many sequels to Corduroy, but none of them really have the quality of the original story. 

Professional Review:  Freeman, Don. Corduroy. Viking, 32 pp.  It is love at first sight when young Lisa sees Corduroy, a stuffed bear with one button missing from his overalls, for sale in a department store, but she lacks enough money to buy him.  The happy conclusion is deeply satisfying.

Library Uses:  There are several elements to use as social lessons for children while using this book as a read aloud or story time.  Corduroy has something he doesn’t like about himself that other people notice as well, but he can’t fix it on his own, he needs some help.  The discussion could also lead to Corduroy deciding he wants to live in a palace, but eventually he was happy where he was because he had a home and someone to love him. 

          A librarian reading this book could also take the route of discussing damages to books.  Corduroy had a flaw (his missing button) perhaps due to some mistreatment or an accident when a child took him off the shelf.  If a patron to the library sees a book that needs a little help to be appealing to all readers please let the librarian know so that we can love it back to the shelf.

Freeman, D. (1968). Corduroy. New York: Viking Press.

Burns, M. (1997, March/April). Book Review. [Review of the book Corduroy, by D. Freeman]. The Horn Book Magazine 72(2), p 187.