CORDUROY'S BIRTHDAY

It's Corduroy's big day, and although he is pushing 30, he doesn't look a day over 5; in the years since his first appearance he has learned how to keep both straps of his overalls buttoned. He's invited over to Checkboard Bunny's home (for what will be a surprise party) but finds time before the party to ``recycle his newspapers and donate clothes that no longer fit him to the children's shelter.'' He also ``chooses some cans of food for the food bank.'' These are worthy activities, but entirely out of step with lighthearted action in the rest of the book, as Corduroy goes off to the party for a good time. The book brims with lift-up flaps, allowing children to get right in on the action: locating the hiding places of the guests, opening gifts, watching the birthday candles go from fire to smoke when the bear blows them out. Corduroy remains a winsome fellow, but those familiar with the older books (and who have not been eased into this series of knock-offs illustrated by McCue) will find no hint of the bear's urban roots (he lives in suburbia now), nor of the little girl who brought him home from the department store. Call it a lift- the-flap, call it a birthday book, but don't call it Don Freeman's Corduroy (1968). (Picture book. 2-6)