Children’s Book Critique MULTICULTURAL TEACHING-EDUC-255 JESSICA RISCH

~CHILDREN’S BOOK CRITIQUE~ Corduroy By: Don Freeman Viking Press 1968 Disney Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up By: Catherine Hapka Disney Press 2013 First grade reading level

BOOK SUMMARIES: Corduroy-  This book is about a teddy bear, that is placed on the top shelf in a department store and becomes alive at night. When a little African American girl named Lisa walks in the store, she sees the bear and wants it. She is willing on buying the bear but the mother refuses because he is missing a button. She buys the bear the next day, sews a new button on him, and they become friends forever. Disney Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up-  Doc McStuffins is an African American doctor who takes care and doctors toys and stuffed animals. She has a magic stethoscope that can bring them to life. She loves helping her friends when they are not feeling well. She is helping her brother, Donny, because his stuffy teddy bear has him all stuffed up.

Corduroy: Positive~  Just because he was missing a button and had some wear, didn’t mean that Lisa didn’t want to buy him.  He took the initiative and went looking for his button to fix himself.  Lisa saved her own money to buy Corduroy.  Lisa knows how to sew.  They immediately became best friends after she gave him a new button. Negative~  Lisa’s mother didn’t want to buy a worn and torn teddy bear.  The watchman found him sneaking around at night when he should have stayed on his shelf.  He tried to pull a button off of a bed and ended up knocking a lamp over.

Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up- Positive~  Doc gave Teddy B to Donny.  Doc can help sick stuffed animals.  The other stuffed animals helped Teddy B and got washed too.  Doc’s mother was willing to help and wash the stuffed animals.  After Teddy B was washed, Donny didn’t sneeze anymore and had his friend back. Negative~  Teddy B made Donny sneeze.  Teddy B had a case of the Dusty- Musties.

NUMBER OF CHARCTERS IN EACH STORY:  Corduroy- MALE CHARACTERS- 2 Corduroy, Watchman FEMALE CHARACTERS- 3 Lisa (African American) little girl, sales lady, Lisa’s mother  Disney Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up- MALE CHARACTERS- 3 Stuffy the Dragon, Chilly the Snowman, Donny (Doc’s brother) FEMALE CHARACTERS- 4 Doc McStuffins (the African American doctor), Lambie the Lamb, Hallie the Hippo, Doc’s Mother The number of male and female characters in both books are not equal. Doc McStuffins book has seven characters total, 3 male and 4 female; which means this book had more characters in it total.

Difference Between Characters:  Corduroy-  Male (2)  Corduroy – teddy bear on department store shelf for sale that is missing a button on his overalls  Watchman – cop watches over department store  Female (3)  Lisa – girl who wants to buy Corduroy  Sales Lady – cashier  Lisa’s Mother  Disney Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up-  Male (3)  Stuffy – Doc’s silly and brave stuffed dragon  Chilly – Doc’s nervous stuffed snowman friend  Donny – Doc’s brother  Female (4)  Doc McStuffins – doctor for stuffed animals and toys  Lambie – Doc’s cuddly stuffed lamb  Hallie – Doc’s receptionist hippo  Doc’s mother

Overall Message Of Both Books (Same): The message for each book was the same overall. The message was that you should not toss aside something, or someone, because of their differences or inadequacies. In Corduroy, the teddy bear was damaged. But Lisa still wanted him, overlooked the damage, and even fixed him after she bought him. In Doc McStuffins, Teddy B was causing her brother to sneeze uncontrollably because he was dusty. Doc got her mother to wash the stuffed animal, and then returned Teddy B to Donny instead of throwing him away.

What Makes These Books Multicultural?  Corduroy-  This book is about a teddy bear who does not get bought by Lisa, the little African American girl, because her mother said Corduroy was missing a button and had some wear on him. Corduroy becomes alive at night and walks around to go look for his missing button. He gets caught by the watchman when he trips and falls, and never finds his button. Lisa comes back with her own money the next day to buy Corduroy, takes him home, and sews a new button on him. They hug afterwards and say to each other that they will always be friends.  This book is multicultural because it has a teddy bear that becomes real and talks, it has a Caucasian watchman, Lisa and her mother are both African American. Despite differences and minor problems, friendship can flourish.

What Makes These Books Multicultural?  Disney Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up-  This book is about Doc McStuffins who has a magical stethoscope that can bring stuffed animals to life. She helps her friends, the stuffed animals, when they’re not healthy. Each diagnosis that she finds, she makes sure to record that in her Big Book of Boo-Boos. Doc found Teddy B in the closet, which was her brother’s favorite toy when he was younger. She gave Teddy B to Donny when he came to visit, but Donny kept sneezing after holding Teddy B. Doc diagnosed Teddy B with a case of the Dusty-Musties. She tells her mother and her mother washes Teddy B, Lambie, and Stuffy together ridding Teddy B of the Dusty-Musties and reuniting him with Donny. No more sneezing.  This book is multicultural because it is about an African American family, and Doc has friends who are all different stuffed animals. It shows that your friends can come in all different shapes and sizes and colors. It also shows that you do not have to get rid of a friend for something that can be easily fixed.

REFERENCES:  Freeman, D. (1968). Corduroy. New York, NY: Viking Press.  Hapka, C. (2013). Doc McStuffins: All Stuffed Up. New York, NY: Disney Press.