Corduroy's Best Halloween!
Don Freeman, Lisa McCue
Hardcover
(Scholastic, Jan. 1, 2002)
First, the good things about this little Halloween book, and there are several. The illustrations are cute and colorful and introduce little ones to the festivities that take place at Halloween like costume parties, bobbing for apples, carving jack-o-lanterns and going trick-or-treating. The main character, a little bear named Corduroy is as sweet as can be and is very selfless and compassionate when he discovers that one of his friends does not have a costume for the Halloween party. Good-hearted Corduroy promptly gives up his own costume that he has painstakingly produced for himself. In the end, this clever Corduroy comes up with an alternative for himself by whisking the soiled tablecloth off the party table. It's a nice story, although not very exciting in any way, and very little kids will probably enjoy it. Now, for the faults and there are few. This book is BASED ON the Corduroy stories written and illustrated by the late Don Freeman, a wonderfully talented and original writer and artist. The Corduroy in this book is most decidedly NOT the Corduroy we have come to love in Don Freeman's books. He lacks the depth of expression, the curiosity and hapless penchant for troubles that our beloved Corduroy, born in 1968, has. This Corduroy is more like a CareBear in his goody-goody ways. A pair of green overalls does not a Corduroy make! I'd much rather remember him as a plucky little guy who finds a loving little girl to care for him than to see him as a homeowner, shopper, party-planner, host and crises solver.
K