Corduroy's Thanksgiving

Corduroy

by Lisa McCue (Illustrator)

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Corduroy with this festive story.
 
Corduroy is hosting Thanksgiving dinner for his friends. They watch a Thanksgiving Day parade, then it’s time to eat. But first, Corduroy and his friends each say what they are thankful for.
This brightly colored and fun shaped board book is perfect for the youngest fans of Corduroy.

Genres: Thanksgiving, Childrens, Holiday, Picture Books, Animals, Fiction

16 pages, Board Book

First published August 17, 2006

About the author

I was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Tappan, NY when I was 4. As early as I can remember, teachers were telling me that my drawings should be in children’s books. While in high school I was given the assignment to write a paper describing a day in my life 25 years into the future. I described myself as married with 2 children, working in my studio overlooking the ocean and designing greeting cards with a dog at my feet. I must have had a crystal ball that day. The only difference is I look out at the Chesapeake Bay, not the ocean.

I illustrated my first children’s book while in college. Acclaimed Dutch author Loek Kessels saw my portfolio, and asked me to illustrate for her. Now nearly 30 years later, I am still illustrating children’s books as well as greeting cards.

I love my work! It is so much fun to bring my characters to life, one brush stroke at a time. My sons laugh at the way I act out all of the emotions by making the facial expressions of my characters while I draw. Click on my picture to the left to see what my sneaky boys caught on tape.

When I am not drawing you will most likely find me on the water racing our sailboat or in the Mountains skiing. I love to read, sew, and bead. I am also very involved in fundraising for ALS.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I don't usually appreciate it when new authors take up classic characters, I was charmed by this offering.

Corduroy and his doll/stuffed animal friends celebrate various aspects of Thanksgiving day, baking, giving thanks, playing football, watching a parade, feasting. It is a board book so perfect for the littlest Thanksgiving reader.

I also think the content is nicely flexible because, for example, when it says they "say what they are thankful for" the illustration shows them holding hands around the table. This could be secular or interpreted as prayer, too, depending on the family.

I also personally was so happy there is no turkey in the feast! There is a cornucopia instead. This is so refreshing for vegan and vegetarian families. (Though there is a milk carton and egg for the baking scene so it's not vegan.)

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corduroy shares a bland day of clichéd Thanksgiving preparations and activities. At least it's short.

This did nothing to impress my daughter when she was six or twenty-four.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The board book is only 14 pages long, which was even less than I was expecting. I thought this would be really cute and sweet because I liked Corduroy as a kid and wanted to revisit it. But this wasn't good.

I found it to be really random and it didn't capture the feel of Thanksgiving enough for me. Also, the writing was really odd the way it started talking about Corduroy, relating what he was doing. Then at times it all of a sudden addressed Corduroy directly and it jolted me out of the story, what little there was. It began with Corduroy preparing for his friends to come over for Thanksgiving, so he was setting the table and cooking. But then all of a sudden he goes from being in the kitchen to raking leaves outside, and his friends are there and it said "Welcome!" which was weird, because that was like a line from Corduroy to the friends, and he doesn't have any dialogue because it's in 3rd person from an outside perspective. It just seemed weird for us to be reading Welcome out to the characters...it didn't work for me.

Then they left his house and went to a parade, and the author once again started speaking to Corduroy. "Look at the giant balloon, Corduroy!" Shouldn't you just say "Look at the giant balloon!" to the reader and not speak directly to your character, and have readers reading lines to your character?? And he had 4 friends with him, so it was weird to just direct the line to Corduroy like he's the only character when he isn't.

At dinner they all said what they're thankful for, whatever that turned out to be, because we don't know. It would have been nice to have a page devoted to each character and what they're thankful for. It was so lacking and shallow not to specify.

The food was good, then they played football. "Pass the football, Corduroy!" Again! Ugh.

They had dessert and then "Happy Thanksgiving, Corduroy!"

The format of the writing was terrible to me and the POV was so skewed and odd. Even though they ate, said what they were thankful for, saw a parade and played football, this barely had any feel of Thanksgiving and wasn't deep enough. It needs some more meat and substance. For starters coming up with something the characters can say they're thankful for is nice! And this really shouldn't speak directly to Corduroy like we are talking to him. That is so bizarre and doesn't make for good reading.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was OrangeBlossom's first library check out today. I guess she just got the hang of it as AppleBlossom and I were checking out other books. She walked right up to the counter and handed it to me to check out. So cute. I hope I'll be able to remember that memory. :)

This is a good short and sweet Corduroy story. We love Corduroy around here and he was a favorite from my childhood although at that time there were not all these newer adventures for him and holidays. I'd buy this one if we came across it.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Calling this a Corduroy book makes me sad. Other than a bear in green overalls (I was glad he has a purple pocket), there is nothing Corduroy-ish about this book. The thing I love most about Corduroy is that he sees everything as an adventure (an escalator is a mountain, a bag of laundry is a cave, etc). And there was no Lisa.

[Jodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little niece loves what she calls "baby books," so I had to get her this adorable board book. I think she'll really like the illustrations and the colors. It's a cute storyline.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good read.

[Jo-Ann Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pictures are colorful and attractive for children. I found the story a bit lacking but very young children probably won't notice.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Corduroy and this book did not disappoint. Adorable illustrations with a simple cute story perfect for toddlers or any Corduroy fans.

[Rayjan Koehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book for early readers.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in my library's online catalog while searching keywords board book and Thanksgiving.
I been trying to explain and get my daughter into the significance of holidays by reading book about them and watching movies about them.
We really enjoyed it and neither of us ever read Corduroy but I think we will now real soon.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It talks about sharing and friendship and gratitude, the pictures are colorful and adorable. My baby just loves this book! She jabbers on about it excitedly every time we take it off the shelf.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming board book; written enough you can read it as a story to your little guy or have them sit and look at it with the illustrations and make their own stories up. Corduroy celebrates Thanksgiving with his friends.

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

So precious!