A Pocket For Corduroy
Published by Puffin Books
Written and Illustrated by Don Freeman
This is a classic story of how a girl and her teddy bear are tragically separated and joyfully reconnected—with many subtle twists. First of all, it isn’t the girl who accidentally abandons her comfort object in this story; the bear, Corduroy, gets caught up in his own curiosity while at the laundry mat (spelled Laundromat in this story). I could not help but look into the unusual spelling. Over the course of the story, observant readers can deduce that Pandro is the name of the Latino owner of the laundry mat because of his Spanish name and his use of the word “senorita” when talking to Lisa, Corduroy’s owner. I knew that “Laundromat” was not Spanish for laundry mat (it’s “lavanderÃa”), but I still couldn’t place it. I happened to glance at the dedication/publisher’s page of the book and noticed that it was published in 1978, so, I did what any student of the twenty-first century would do and Googled it.
According to Wikipedia—yes, I realize that Wikipedia isn’t the most credible source, but it is suited for this task—“Laundromat” is a trademark name of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-service_laundry). Interestingly, if you click on the link to the Wiki page about the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, it tells you that the Corporation was founded in 1886, making it amongst the first major electric companies!
Another great thing about this book is the diversity of the characters in its illustrations. Because this book was authored and illustrated in the late 1970s, there is definitely a dated quality to it; however, the cultural representations within the laundry mat are very similar to what we readily see in the world today: there are apparently single mothers and fathers, Asian women, black families, white families, artists, and little old ladies. This was one of my favorite books as child, and I was surprised and thrilled to see that two of my present hobbies—painting and sewing—are both featured in this book. It is really quite remarkable because it is almost guaranteed that every child will relate to someone in the book, and if they don’t, there’s always Corduroy!
I think it's interesting that you point out that Corduroy might outdated in some ways because less than 20 years ago, we were reading these books. Did we see them as outdated? I can't remember. It makes me wonder how we are too balance what we loved as children with newer books, and what about the books older than what we loved? Are we losing really wonderful books?
ReplyDeleteSo nice that you are sharing a favorite book from your childhood, Jen. I had never really focused on the multicultural aspect of Corduroy. Typical urban landscape and that fact had never popped for me. I wonder if this inclusiveness was considered unique or a reach at the time of publication. The capability of reproducing art pre mid-80s (?) was a challenge in earlier picture books and you see that in Don Freeman's color palette perhaps. Still,even with the 1970s clothing fashions,the art and story have a lovely charm.
ReplyDeleteI do love how we are starting to become part of "outdated" in society. But I remember reading the Corduroy books when I was little and I was so excited to see that you put this up. I think for a read aloud, outdated though it may be, it is great to go back to the classics. There are some themes that never die and I think that this book has one of them.
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