Ryers Readers - Corduroy

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

Corduroy always dreamed about having a friend and a home of his own. But, will anyone ever take home a bear with a missing button?

Let's do this. Thank you so much for tuning into today's story. Don't forget to tell your grown-up to go check out the Ryer's Readers' Instagram for more fun content. Before we get into the story, do you want to know a fun fact? Did you know that escalators were first built to be a fun ride? One of the first escalators were installed in Coney Island, New York as part of their amusement rides. People would ride the moving stairs for fun. Now, you can find escalators all over the place in many different buildings.

Have you ever ridden on an escalator? Pretty cool, huh? Okay. Story time. Today, we are going to read Corderoy by Don Freeman. Corderoy is a bear who once lived in the toy department of a big store. Day after day, he waited with all the other animals and dolls for someone to come along and take him home. The store was always filled with shoppers buying all sorts of things, but no one really ever seemed to want to bring a small bear in green overalls home.

Then one morning a little girl stopped and looked straight into corduroy's bright eyes. Oh, mommy, she said. Look, there's the very bear I've always wanted. Not today, dear, her mother sighed. I've spent too much already. Besides, he doesn't look new. He's lost a button to one of his shoulder straps. Corderoy watched them sadly as they walked away.

I didn't know I lost a button, he said to himself. Tonight, I'll go and see if I can find it. Late that evening, when all the other shoppers had gone and the doors were shut and locked, Corderoy climbed carefully down from his shelf and began searching everywhere on the floor for his lost button. Suddenly, he felt the floor moving under him. Quite by accident, he had stepped onto an escalator and wop up he went. Could this be a mountain? he wondered.

I think I've always wanted to climb a mountain. He stepped off the escalator as it reached the next floor, and there, before his eyes, was a most amazing sight. Tables and chairs and lamps and sofas and rows and rows of beds. This must be a palace, Corderoy gasped. I guess I've always wanted to live in a palace. He wandered around admiring the furniture. This must be a bed, he said.

I've always wanted to sleep in a bed. And up he crawled onto a large, thick mattress. All at once, he saw something small and round. Why, here's my button, he cried. and he tried to pick it up, but, like all the other buttons on the mattress, it was tied down. He yanked and he pulled with both paws until pop! Off came the button, and off the mattress, Corderoy toppled, bang, onto a tall floor lamp, over it fell with a crash.

Corderoy didn't know it, but there was someone else awake in the store. The night watchman was going on his round. on the floor above. When he heard the crash he came dashing down the escalator. Now who in the world did that? He exclaimed, somebody must be hiding around here. He flashed his light under and over the sofas and over all the beds until he came to the biggest bed of all. And there, he saw two fuzzy brown ears sticking up from under the cover. Hello, he said, how did you get upstairs? The watchman tucked Cotteroy under his arm and carried him down the escalator and set him on the shelf in the toy department with all the other animals and dolls. Corderoy was just waking up when the first customers came into the store the next morning.

And there, looking at him with a wide, warm smile. was the same little girl he had seen the day before. I'm Lisa, she said, and you're going to be my very own bear. Last night, I counted what I had saved in my piggy bank, and my mother said I could bring you home. Shall I put him in a box for you? The sales lady asked. Oh, no thank you, Lisa answered,

and she carried corduroy home in her arms. She ran all the way up four flights of stairs into her family's apartment and straight into her own room. Quateroy blinked. There was a chair and a chest of drawers and alongside a girl-sized bed stood a little bed just right for him. The room was small, nothing like the enormous palace in the department store. This must be home, he said. I know I have always wanted a home. Lisa sat down with Quoteroi on her lap and began to sew a button on his overalls.

I like you the way you are, she said, but you'll be more comfortable with your shoulder strap fastened. You must be a friend, said Corderoy. I have always wanted a friend. Me too, said Lisa, and gave him. a big hug. The end. Stick around and see if you can answer today's paying attention question. Before you go, do you think you can answer today's paying attention question?

Where did the night watchman find corduroy hiding? If your answer was in the biggest bed, you did it. Great job! You sure were paying attention. I hope you enjoyed that story. I wonder what we're going to read next.