I must say, at first I felt a bit weird featuring kid’s books because nearly all of the ones we read are old, well loved, and very well known books. There’s probably very few I have discussed that most people have not at least heard of. But then I remembered that my purpose isn’t to review books; it’s just to share some of our favorites. I’m always on the lookout for other people’s recommendations, and these are just some of mine.
Today, I want to talk about Corduroy by Don Freeman originally published in 1976. This is one of my all time favorites even though we haven’t had it all that long.
The plot is fairly simple. Corduroy is a department store teddy bear with a missing button on his overalls. All he has ever wanted was a home, and a little girl comes in and wants to buy him, but her mother doesn’t have enough money, and she points out that he looks old anyway because he is missing a button. This sends Corduroy on a button search throughout the store that evening, and he experiences the extravagance of a department store. He was unsuccessful in his search, but the next morning, the little girl comes in with her own money and buys him. She brings him home and he is happy in her little apartment because finally he has a home of his own.
This is just one of those feel good childhood stories that extols the importance of personal values. What matters to Corduroy aren’t the department store treasures, but rather what is important to him is having a friend of his own and a place of his own. Instead of the huge thick mattresses at the department store, he has a little shoebox bed, and he is quite happy with his new bed.
One of the best parts of this book is that it allows the parent to discuss what matters most with children. It opens the door to discussing items of true value and what really gives something its value. It can also help parents talk about differences in lifestyles – where some people live in palaces like the department store, others have modest sized apartments, but in the end, that doesn’t really matter at all for happiness.
It can also open the door to talking about money and saving money to buy something of value as this is what the little girl has done to purchase her toy. It teaches kids that toys don’t come free which I think is an especially important lesson in this day and age when most transactions are done electronically and people just don’t carry cash around all that much. It must be confusing to children to say that you don’t have enough money for something when money is always something abstract.
Finally, and this is just a personal preference, I like this book for its feeling of nostalgia. The pictures are dated. The lines are harsher and the colors more muted than the bubble-like primary colored children’s books we are becoming used to. And while this would go over any child’s head, I like how it brings us back to a different time sociologically — a time when department stores opened up consumerism to different classes and brought all sorts of people together under one roof. Department stores once held magic for people — people were brought face to face with their materialistic dreams and as such, they were faced with wonder. Historically speaking, it presents us with a great slice of classic Americana. But like I said, that’s just more for nerds like me. No kid would catch on to any of that.
As I’m always looking for additional activities to do, a fun, add on activity to do with a child would be to make a little shoe box bed for his or her favorite teddy bear or doll.
And so yes, I would highly recommend Corduroy to any parent of a preschooler. The Goose doesn’t really find any interest in this one, but Magoo understands the irony and humor in it as well as the message, so this is one she always loves to read.