Corduroy by Don Freeman

Prompts

Ask the child questions after the second and third readings of Corduroy, to start a conversation about the book. You can prompt the child on every page, using the questions below. If the child says something spontaneously about a picture, be sure to expand on it and listen while he or she repeats it.

1. Who is this? (This is Corduroy.)
2. Where does Corduroy live? (He lives in the toy department at a big store.)
3. What are these toys? (The other toys are a clown, a rabbit, a doll, and a giraffe.)
4. Who are these people? (This is Lisa and her mother.)
5. What are they doing? (They are shopping.)
6. What does Lisa want? (She wants Corduroy.)
7. What does Corduroy want? (He wants a button for his overalls.)
8. What is happening in this picture? (Corduroy is climbing down from the shelf. )
9. What is he looking for? (He is looking for his lost button.)
10. What does Corduroy do next? (Corduroy rides up the escalator.)
11. Have you ever been on an escalator? Did you go up or down?
12. What do you see here? (Corduroy is in the furniture section of the store. There are chairs, tables, beds, and lamps.)
13. What is Corduroy trying to do? (He is trying to pull the button off the mattress.)
14. What happens next? (Corduroy falls off the bed and knocks over a lamp.)
15. Who hears the crash? (The night watchman hears the crash and comes to see what happened.)
16. How does the night watchman find Corduroy? (He shines a flashlight on him.)
17. Is Corduroy riding up or down the escalator? (He and the watchman are riding down the escalator.)
18. Who is this? (This is Lisa, the little girl who wants Corduroy.)
19. What is Lisa doing? (She is buying Corduroy.)
20. Where is Lisa taking Corduroy? (She is taking him home.)
21. Whose room is this? (This is Lisa's bedroom.)
22. What is happening in this picture? (Lisa is sewing a button onto his overalls.)
23. What is Lisa doing here? (She is hugging Corduroy.)

Vocabulary

The words listed below come from the story and its pictures. As you page through the book, point to the pictures and ask the child to name the object or the action shown. This will help the child learn new words. You can use the words below, or you can choose words you think will interest your child. Below are words for every one or two pages of the story.

• toys, clown, rabbit, bear, doll, giraffe
• store, shopping, pointing
• looking sad, button, strap, overalls
• climbing down, looking
• escalator, riding up
• furniture, tables, chairs, lamps, beds
• climbing up, pulling, mattress
• falling over, lamp
• night watchman, flashlight, riding down
• ears, covers
• carrying, toy shelf, sleeping
• scarf, purse, saleslady, buying
• box, stairs, running upstairs
• bedroom, big bed, little bed, sewing, needle, thread, button
• hugging, ponytail, happy, friend