Corduroy

Corduroy

Author: Don Freeman

Ages: K-5

Rating: 5 Stars

Summary: A little bear, Corduroy, wants to be purchased from the store, but when a young girl’s mother notices he is missing a button on his overalls she tells her daughter no. Corduroy goes on an adventure through the store to find his missing button, and although he does not, the little girls returns to buy him the next day.

Corduroy is one of my long-lost childhood favorites. It is definitely one of those books that makes me smile and think back to being read to as a child. The story is one of adventure and love; a feel-good book. In this particular edition, the Anniversary Edition, there are several pages in the back of the book that are so exciting to read! The pages include little envelopes with copies of letters that went back and forth between the author, Don Freeman, and his editor, Annis Duff. There are also many sketches that Don Freeman came up with to bring the book to life. It was also so interesting to see part of the process of editing and altering the book to make it into the final product.

This particular edition of Corduroy changed my mind of what grade levels I would use it for. I would primarily use this book with younger children to talk about the bond between a person and their stuffed animal, but this edition expands into so much more. The final pages of the book, as previously mentioned, are all about the editing process of how this book came to be. I feel that older children would be able to appreciate this especially since they are becoming writers themselves. It shows a purpose for having to do so much editing to make a piece of writing so special.