Corduroy by: Don Freeman

Ages: 3-8

Corduroy is a story about a bear that lives in a department store’s toy department. He has been on the shelf for a long time, and wants a home. One girl sees the teddy bear on the shelf and falls in love with him. However, she leaves the store without taking him home because her mother says he looks used because he is missing a button to his overalls. When the store closes, Corduroy goes looking throughout the department store for his missing button. He makes a discovery in the furniture department – a mattress has his button. The security guard finds him and returns Corduroy to his shelf in the toy department. Find out if Corduroy finds his button and a home in this wonderful children’s book!

Corduroy is a cute story. The text is simple with only a few lines on each page. The illustrations in this book are great. They dominate each page and really bring the story to life. The facial expressions of Corduroy are very detailed throughout the story. The reader sees emotions from sadness, eagerness, surprise, and happiness. This book sends the message that you do not have to be perfect for someone to love you. It also teaches us that basic things in life, such as love and acceptance, are most important. One thing I really enjoyed about the book was the fact that the little girl and her mom were African American. You do not see many books in our society where the main character is a racial minority (anything other than white American). Overall, Corduroy is wonderful book!