Pros: A warm tale that children of all ages will enjoy.
Cons: A very short story that takes perhaps five minutes to read. Sometimes that's a Pro.
The Bottom Line: This is a book that should be in every child's library. It shows that being different is OK and that acceptance is a very special love.
popsrocks's Full Review: Don Freeman - Corduroy: English/Spanish
I have five children and now have three grand children. I have read this story many times to all my children as they were growing up and I enjoy these days of reading it again to the grand kids.
The AUTHOR
The book, printed by the Viking Press, was written by Don Freeman who moved to NY from California to study art. I found it interesting that he made his living as a jazz trumpeter and, due to the loss of his trumpet on a subway, began to write and illustrate for children's books in the 1940s to help make ends meet. The book highlights 19 other books he has written including a follow-up book to this one called A Pocket for Courduroy. Note the different spelling for "Corduroy". I don't know why that is. The author died in 1978. I have a bit more to say about the author later and maybe you will understand why I am telling a bit more than might be needed in making a decision on whether this book is a good value for you and your children.
The STORY
Though this is a children's book, I do want to warn you that much of the story is detailed in these next few paragraphs.
This is a gentle tale of a little girl who is walking through a department store and notices a little stuffed bear on the shelf. She is drawn to it, but the mom, being tired and weary, says, "I've spent too much money already. Besides, he doesn't look new. He's lost the button to one of his shoulder straps." The little girl and her mom leave.
The story then goes to Corduroy, the little bear. This now becomes a make believe tale where the bear comes to life and understands what was said about him. He never realized he was different, (his button was missing). When the department store closes he decides to go and try to find the button for his overalls. This becomes an adventure for him as he tries to navigate the store and a moving escalator to search around the big store where he finds a "palace". The reader sees the store as Corduroy does, a huge unexplored territory. He finally does find an object he thinks is a matching button. It is quite humorous and the item he tries to get might be much like what the eyes of a child would see as a button on a bed.
The bear makes noise during this adventure and a security guard comes into the picture. The night time adventure comes to an end with the guard finding a stuffed bear in a place he should not have been. He places the bear back downstairs with all the other dolls.
The next day the same little girl comes into the store with some her own personal money from her piggy bank. She takes him home and and though she liked Corduroy "...the way you are..." She sews on a new button so he will be more comfortable with the strap fastened. The story ends with the two exchanging a few warm words to each other.
The WORDS and ART
I found the flow of this book to be very evenly paced with words that could be easily expressed with a bit of theatrical flair when reading to a child. We are brought through different emotions of loneliness and love, and adventure and suspense that is easily understood by children but at the same time not overly done or frightful to them.
This is a book recommended for 3-8 year olds. I agree. The physical size of the book, about 8"X10" is large enough for good sized pictures but not too cumbersome for storage. I do not like huge over-sized books.
The artwork takes up the top two-thirds to three-quarters of each page. All the illustrations were done by the writer of the story. The pictures are pen and ink with water colour. They are bright and simple drawings with nice detail and follow the storyline throughout.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
One thing that did strike me as different in this book is that the author chose to ink the child and mother as people of colour. They have fine features and a light skin colour. I always wondered if my children noticed this. Nothing was ever said by them, but I feel it is a good introduction to other peoples for children. I feel this is especially true for those children and adults who may live in a one colour society. In saying this, I re-enforce my thoughts that, I would not in any way suggest this is a book for people of colour only. In my thoughts I feel this book is for everyone!
MORE ABOUT the AUTHOR
You have my permission, as if you need it, to move onto the next section if you feel this is not important for your possible decision as to the purchase of this book.
I digress with more words about the author but I found it interesting, in light of the subject matter of this book, to find out that he was an orphan. I also wanted to know for my own inquiry, whether he was a man of colour or not. The first reason I wanted to know about his background is that he chose to use the main character as a girl of colour in the 1960s when this was not a popular choice. Though I never found out his race I thought he may have been a black man. I could be terribly wrong, because of a few things I put together. His last name was Freeman, a name given to some freed slaves. He chose to use a girl of colour in the book, and though I don't want this to seem insensitive, played the trumpet as a jazz instrument. I did read that he was very involved with the "lower classes", both black and white, of society and used them as figures in many of his illustrations and works of art.
I did find out that besides being a children's book writer and illustrator he was a distinguished artist who has work in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, University of Arizona Museum of Art, the British Museum and the University of Minnesota. If anybody knows more about this man and his background, please leave a comment.
Update. Check the comments at the end of this piece. One of our good people here have answered my question as to his race.
OK now, back to the book.
EXPERIENCE WITH MY CHILDREN
This hard cover, 32 page book, that was first published in 1968, has been in our household for over thirty years. We have had to replace a copy that was lost. Each of my children enjoyed the story so much that we did get that other copy. My youngest is now 15 so I do not remember with great detail as to their reactions to the story. I just remember it was very positive and was aways in our bedroom so the kids could come in for a read. I can tell you that this is now a favorite story of my three year old grand daughter. It is a book, that when she's over the house, she asks for so we could read it to her. When reading it to her I see a mothering instinct as she cares about the lonely and different bear. She sits with great interest at the adventure part of the story as the bear searches the huge store for a little button and I could tell she is waiting with great hope for the little girl to return for him. It's also at the end of the book that my grand daughter gives the order of "again" to me, so she can hear and witness the story over and over.
A winning, completely childlike picture book in which a stuffed bear waiting hopefully in a toy department finds a home with a little girl. Endearing,...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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