Posted on by TracyC · 2 Comments

Corduroy

Corduroy by Don Freeman, 1968.

Corduroy is a small teddy bear who lives in a department store, waiting for someone to buy him and take him home. However, he is missing one of the buttons on his overalls, and it makes people reluctant to buy him.

One night, after the store is closed, Corduroy sneaks out of the toy department to go looking for his lost button. After a trip up the escalator, he finds himself in the furniture department. To Corduroy, it’s like climbing a mountain and finding himself in a palace.

When he spots a button on a mattress, he thinks it might be his and pulls it off. By accident, he knocks over a lamp, which attracts the attention of a night watchman, who spots him and returns him to the toy department.

The little girl who wanted Corduroy before, Lisa, returns to the store and buys him. Lisa takes Corduroy home and sews a new button on Corduroy’s overalls. Corduroy is happy because he’s always wanted a home and a friend, and now he has both.

At first, this book was a stand-alone story, but later, the author wrote a sequel called A Pocket for Corduroy. Later, other authors continued the series.

The book is available to borrow for free online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 4 Comments

Happy Birthday, Moon

Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch, 1982.

Bear really loves the moon and decides that he would like to give the moon a birthday present.  The problem is that he doesn’t know when the moon’s birthday is.  He tries asking it, but it doesn’t answer.

Deciding that he needs to get closer to the moon to talk to it, Bear goes to the mountains to ask the moon when its birthday is.  In the mountain, Bear hears his own echo and thinks that it is the moon answering him.  When Bear tells the moon that his birthday is tomorrow, the “moon” replies that its birthday is tomorrow.  Bear is pleased, especially when the moon echoes his wish for a hat for its birthday.

Bear buys the moon a hat and puts it on top of the moon by putting it in a tree.  The following morning, the hat is on Bear’s doorstep, and Bear accepts it as the moon’s present to him.

When the wind blows poor Bear’s hat away, Bear goes to the mountains again to apologize to the moon for losing the hat.  It’s okay, though, because Bear and the moon still love each other.

Bear never realizes that what he’s hearing is his own echo.  It’s sweet although somewhat silly.  If you wonder what happened to the hat in the end, it’s shown on the back cover of the book, holding a bird’s nest.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive. (When you borrow a book from Internet Archive, you have to set up an account, but it’s free.)

Posted on by TracyC

The Large and Growly Bear

The Large and Growly Bear by Gertrude Crampton, 1961.

One spring day, a large and growly bear is bored.  What else can a large and growly bear do but find someone to scare with his growling?  But, finding someone to scare proves harder than he thought it would be.

As the bear goes through the forest, trying to scare different types of animals, he discovers that they’re all too busy to be frightened of his growling.  The birds are busy feeding their babies, the rabbits are busy jumping around and counting their bounces, and the moles are busy digging tunnels halfway to China. All of them tell the bear to go find someone else to scare.

Eventually, he gets the idea of trying to scare the fish because fish just swim around and aren’t too busy to be scared, but when he gets to the river, he’s in for a big surprise! The easiest target to scare is . . . himself!

My Reaction

This is just a cute story that my brother really liked as a kid. It has repetition that kids like as the bear repeatedly tries to frighten different types of animals with the same disappointing result, and then a funny twist ending when it turns out the only animal who even has the time to be frightened by the bear is himself.  It’s a Little Golden Book.