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The Velveteen Rabbit
Nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
Like the Skin Horse, Margery Williams understood how toys—and people—become real through the wisdom and experience of love. This reissue of a favorite classic, with the original story and illustrations as they first appeared in 1922, will work its magic for all who read it.
Like the Skin Horse, Margery Williams understood how toys—and people—become real through the wisdom and experience of love. This reissue of a favorite classic, with the original story and illustrations as they first appeared in 1922, will work its magic for all who read it.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
About the author
Margery Williams Bianco
201 books608 followersMargery Williams Bianco was an English-American author, primarily of popular children's books. A professional writer since the age of nineteen, she achieved lasting fame at forty-one with the 1922 publication of the classic that is her best-known work, The Velveteen Rabbit.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,102 reviews
April 24, 2023
Perfection.
One Christmas morning, little Boy receives many presents, and among them a Velveteen Rabbit. At first he isn’t noticed, but with time Rabbit finds a place in little Boy’s heart. Rabbit snuggles with him at night, and plays with him during the day. But Rabbit knows he is not Real, he's wearing out, and one fateful day little Boy becomes ill.
I. LOVED. THIS. WITH. ALL. MY. HEART! I’m dying to go to a store, get a stuffed rabbit and huge it and love it until it becomes real. This is what perfection tastes like, a kind of book I so rarely find. This children’s book is regarded in many lists as one of the best ever written, and very rightfully so. Highly enjoyable as a child for its simplicity, and as an adult for its meaning. Utterly endearing and touching to no end, with an unforgettable lesson on love, and life.
I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I watched that episode in Friends where Chandler gifts this book to Kathy; and it took me nothing less than twenty years to get to it but the day finally arrived. Best day ever.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1922] [40p] [Children’s] [EXTREMELY Recommendable] [“When you are loved, then you become Real.” “Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes.” said Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.] [“Once you are loved you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”]
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Perfección.
Una mañana de Navidad, pequeño Nene recibe muchos regalos, y entre ellos un Conejo de felpa. Al principio no es notado, pero con el tiempo Conejo halla un lugar en el corazón de pequeño Nene. Conejo se acurruca con él en las noches, y juega con él durante el día. Pero Conejo sabe que no es Real, se está gastando, y un fatídico día pequeño Nene se enferma.
AME. ESTO. CON. TODO. MI. CORAZON! Muero por ir a una tienda, tomar un conejo de felpa y abrazarlo y amarlo hasta que se vuelva real. Este es el sabor de la perfección, un tipo de libro que rara vez encuentro. Este libro para niños es considerado en muchas listas como uno de los mejores jamás escritos, y con justicia. Altamente disfrutatle para un niño por su simplicidad, y para un adulto por su significado. Terriblemente entrañable y conmovedor hasta el infinito, y con una inolvidable lección sobre el amor, y la vida.
He querido leerlo desde que vi ese episodio de Friends donde Chandler le regala este libro a Kathy; y me tomó nada menos que veinte años para leerlo pero el día finalmente llegó. El mejor día jamás.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1922] [40p] [Niños] [EXTREMADAMENTE Recomendable] [“Cuando eres amado, entonces te vuelves Real.” “¿Pero duele?” preguntó el Conejo. “A veces.” dijo Caballo, porque siempre decía la verdad.] [“Cuando eres amado no puedes ser feo, excepto para aquellas personas que no entienden.”]
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One Christmas morning, little Boy receives many presents, and among them a Velveteen Rabbit. At first he isn’t noticed, but with time Rabbit finds a place in little Boy’s heart. Rabbit snuggles with him at night, and plays with him during the day. But Rabbit knows he is not Real, he's wearing out, and one fateful day little Boy becomes ill.
I. LOVED. THIS. WITH. ALL. MY. HEART! I’m dying to go to a store, get a stuffed rabbit and huge it and love it until it becomes real. This is what perfection tastes like, a kind of book I so rarely find. This children’s book is regarded in many lists as one of the best ever written, and very rightfully so. Highly enjoyable as a child for its simplicity, and as an adult for its meaning. Utterly endearing and touching to no end, with an unforgettable lesson on love, and life.
I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I watched that episode in Friends where Chandler gifts this book to Kathy; and it took me nothing less than twenty years to get to it but the day finally arrived. Best day ever.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1922] [40p] [Children’s] [EXTREMELY Recommendable] [“When you are loved, then you become Real.” “Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes.” said Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.] [“Once you are loved you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”]
-----------------------------------------------
Perfección.
Una mañana de Navidad, pequeño Nene recibe muchos regalos, y entre ellos un Conejo de felpa. Al principio no es notado, pero con el tiempo Conejo halla un lugar en el corazón de pequeño Nene. Conejo se acurruca con él en las noches, y juega con él durante el día. Pero Conejo sabe que no es Real, se está gastando, y un fatídico día pequeño Nene se enferma.
AME. ESTO. CON. TODO. MI. CORAZON! Muero por ir a una tienda, tomar un conejo de felpa y abrazarlo y amarlo hasta que se vuelva real. Este es el sabor de la perfección, un tipo de libro que rara vez encuentro. Este libro para niños es considerado en muchas listas como uno de los mejores jamás escritos, y con justicia. Altamente disfrutatle para un niño por su simplicidad, y para un adulto por su significado. Terriblemente entrañable y conmovedor hasta el infinito, y con una inolvidable lección sobre el amor, y la vida.
He querido leerlo desde que vi ese episodio de Friends donde Chandler le regala este libro a Kathy; y me tomó nada menos que veinte años para leerlo pero el día finalmente llegó. El mejor día jamás.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1922] [40p] [Niños] [EXTREMADAMENTE Recomendable] [“Cuando eres amado, entonces te vuelves Real.” “¿Pero duele?” preguntó el Conejo. “A veces.” dijo Caballo, porque siempre decía la verdad.] [“Cuando eres amado no puedes ser feo, excepto para aquellas personas que no entienden.”]
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February 19, 2008
Beautiful and deeply touching. At Meredith's wedding last year, her brother and sister read a passage from this book, including the below - an inspired choice.
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
August 2, 2007
A terrific book, even as an adult, but it gave me quite a scare as a little kid. See, I actually managed to get scarlet fever in the first grade, and because of The Velveteen Rabbit, I was terrified that someone was going to come in and force me to burn all of my toys like the kid in the book had to when he was sick. Thankfully, though, medicine advanced beyond toy burning in between the publishing of this book and 1982, so my G.I. Joes were safe.
March 11, 2024
At what age does a child learn what is real? How long does the blurring between fantasy and reality persist, for a young child? And when harsh reality kicks in with a vengeance, isn’t a little bit of magic lost forever?
The loss of childhood innocence is always poignant. Adults sometimes continue to live in our imaginations and dreams through stories, so we may manage to hang on to a little bit of this magic through our adulthood.
The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real), is a much-loved classic book from 1922. The story speaks to children, especially the shy introverts or dreamers, who love the magic of it all. For adults, it may lift us back into the dreamy world of childhood, when anything is possible, and nothing is set in stone. It deals both with what is “real”, and also explores the world of the imagination, and possibilities beyond the literal truth. In some ways, it encourages the child to think about the bigger questions of life and the universe. And, as with all good fantasy, it poses the question, “What if?”
The author Margery Williams Bianco drew from her own experience to write The Velveteen Rabbit. She had been born in London, but her father died when she was seven years old, and the family went to America to live just two years later. She actually became a professional writer at 19, but she only started writing for children much later, when her own children had grown up.
After her early emigration to the United States, Margery lived in a rural Pennsylvania farming community. At nineteen she returned to London, to try to sell some of her work. Some of it was published, but none was very successful. While visiting her publisher, Margery Williams met Francesco Bianco, an Italian living in London, who was employed as the manager of one of the book departments. The two were married, and had two children.
Margery Williams Bianco had strong memories of her own early childhood, and of her father, a deeply loving and caring parent, who had encouraged both her and her older sister to read and use their imaginations. She recalled the way her father described characters from various books to capture her imagination, and tempt her with their amazing worlds within. Her strong desire to read soon developed into a need to write for herself, and she now realised these were both instilled in her at an early age by her father.
Margery Williams Bianco found that all the memories of the toys which had been such an important part of her life surged to the fore. At the age of 41, she wrote her first children’s novel The Velveteen Rabbit, realising that children’s lives are enriched by toys whose personalities they have created while playing with them.
The story tells of a stuffed rabbit, splendidly sewn from velveteen. A small boy finds him in his Christmas stocking and is enchanted with his new present, playing with nothing else for about two hours. But then the velveteen rabbit is forgotten, and put away to live in the toy cupboard, or abandoned on the nursery floor. The velveteen rabbit is quite shy though, and doesn’t really mind.
But because the rabbit is made of velveteen, some of the other toys snub him. They are modern and mechanical, and they think a toy rabbit made of velveteen is very old-fashioned. Even Timothy, a jointed wooden lion, looks down on him. However, there is a wise old toy in the nursery, a Skin Horse, who is kind to him. The velveteen rabbit is curious about what it means to be real, and whether these more expensive toys are more real than him. But the Skin Horse insists:
“Real isn’t how you are made … When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
The velveteen rabbit is very much in awe of this idea. He wants to know if it would hurt, or take very long to happen, but doubts whether it would happen to him for a long time.
“When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt,” said the wise Skin Horse.
One night, when Nana is bustling around tidying the nursery, she cannot find the boy’s favourite toy, a china dog, for him to take to bed with him. So she gives him the velveteen rabbit to sleep with, instead. The velveteen rabbit loves this time when he can snuggle down with the little boy, and grows to feel special. The little boy tells him about the tunnels that the real rabbits live in, and makes tunnels for him under the bedclothes.
The velveteen rabbit is very happy. He has become the little boy’s favourite toy.
“Spring came, and wherever the boy went, the rabbit went too.” He did not notice that his coat was getting shabby and worn away in places. Then the big moment came. Nana was sent out to look for the rabbit, who had accidentally been left outside after a picnic, and she was cross at all the fuss being made for a toy. But the little boy insisted the velveteen rabbit was not just a toy: “He’s REAL”.
When the rabbit heard this he was so proud, and felt so much love himself for the little boy, that he felt his heart would burst.
Time passed. In the summer, he came across some wild rabbits. He was fascinated by them, but realised that they could do much more than he could. They could run, and jump, and hop, and even dance! The velveteen rabbit tried to cover up the fact that he had no hind legs, but eventually the wild rabbits realised that he could not hop as they did, and he didn’t smell right at all. They decided that he was not a real rabbit, and ran away. The velveteen rabbit was so very sad. After all, he knew he was real!
The velveteen rabbit becomes older and even shabbier, but he is happy, because the boy still loves him. That is, until one day the boy
This is a magical, wondrous story. What is it that makes something real in our minds? For an adult, many things are intangible, yet they are powerfully real. So it is for children. A velveteen rabbit is an object which can be touched, and seen, and played with. It is real in a physical sense. But also, it behaves as if it is real. The toy rabbit can breathe, he can cry, and he has emotions. He can become real in a different sense, when he is loved enough. But the story has a third level of reality in the story, .
“The mechanical toys, like the model train, were very stuck-up and boasted that they were real. But the Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed…”
This is a particularly nice picture edition of the story, from 2002. It is simply but elegantly told, and beautifully illustrated with naturalistic soft watercolours, by the award-winning duo, Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. Steve Johnson is the illustrator, and Lou Fancher has adapted Margery Williams Bianco’s story for very young children, including much of her original text.
There have been many adaptations of this favourite book, both in print, and on film and stage. It remains her most popular work. Margery Williams Bianco’s writing is unique, combining the innocence, playfulness and imaginative ability of children, with her trademark undercurrents of sentimentality and sadness. Invariably her books end on an inspirational uplifting note. Perhaps it is this which made her so immediately successful.
Although for the remaining two decades of her life, she wrote many more books and short stories for children, all with similar themes, there are undercurrents of sadness. The stories are poignant, and a little melancholy, with themes of loss and death present in all her children’s books. Most of them display her preoccupation with toys coming to life and the ability of inanimate objects and animals to express human emotions and feelings. Margery Bianco Williams always maintained that we grow and learn greater humanity through pain and adversity. The Velveteen Rabbit also has this at its core. Yet it is perfectly balanced.
All such stories acquire a sort of magic through the child’s own experience, and their subsequent nostalgia. There is sadness in The Velveteen Rabbit, but in the end the reader ends feeling optimistic and uplifted.
The loss of childhood innocence is always poignant. Adults sometimes continue to live in our imaginations and dreams through stories, so we may manage to hang on to a little bit of this magic through our adulthood.
The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real), is a much-loved classic book from 1922. The story speaks to children, especially the shy introverts or dreamers, who love the magic of it all. For adults, it may lift us back into the dreamy world of childhood, when anything is possible, and nothing is set in stone. It deals both with what is “real”, and also explores the world of the imagination, and possibilities beyond the literal truth. In some ways, it encourages the child to think about the bigger questions of life and the universe. And, as with all good fantasy, it poses the question, “What if?”
The author Margery Williams Bianco drew from her own experience to write The Velveteen Rabbit. She had been born in London, but her father died when she was seven years old, and the family went to America to live just two years later. She actually became a professional writer at 19, but she only started writing for children much later, when her own children had grown up.
After her early emigration to the United States, Margery lived in a rural Pennsylvania farming community. At nineteen she returned to London, to try to sell some of her work. Some of it was published, but none was very successful. While visiting her publisher, Margery Williams met Francesco Bianco, an Italian living in London, who was employed as the manager of one of the book departments. The two were married, and had two children.
Margery Williams Bianco had strong memories of her own early childhood, and of her father, a deeply loving and caring parent, who had encouraged both her and her older sister to read and use their imaginations. She recalled the way her father described characters from various books to capture her imagination, and tempt her with their amazing worlds within. Her strong desire to read soon developed into a need to write for herself, and she now realised these were both instilled in her at an early age by her father.
Margery Williams Bianco found that all the memories of the toys which had been such an important part of her life surged to the fore. At the age of 41, she wrote her first children’s novel The Velveteen Rabbit, realising that children’s lives are enriched by toys whose personalities they have created while playing with them.
The story tells of a stuffed rabbit, splendidly sewn from velveteen. A small boy finds him in his Christmas stocking and is enchanted with his new present, playing with nothing else for about two hours. But then the velveteen rabbit is forgotten, and put away to live in the toy cupboard, or abandoned on the nursery floor. The velveteen rabbit is quite shy though, and doesn’t really mind.
But because the rabbit is made of velveteen, some of the other toys snub him. They are modern and mechanical, and they think a toy rabbit made of velveteen is very old-fashioned. Even Timothy, a jointed wooden lion, looks down on him. However, there is a wise old toy in the nursery, a Skin Horse, who is kind to him. The velveteen rabbit is curious about what it means to be real, and whether these more expensive toys are more real than him. But the Skin Horse insists:
“Real isn’t how you are made … When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
The velveteen rabbit is very much in awe of this idea. He wants to know if it would hurt, or take very long to happen, but doubts whether it would happen to him for a long time.
“When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt,” said the wise Skin Horse.
One night, when Nana is bustling around tidying the nursery, she cannot find the boy’s favourite toy, a china dog, for him to take to bed with him. So she gives him the velveteen rabbit to sleep with, instead. The velveteen rabbit loves this time when he can snuggle down with the little boy, and grows to feel special. The little boy tells him about the tunnels that the real rabbits live in, and makes tunnels for him under the bedclothes.
The velveteen rabbit is very happy. He has become the little boy’s favourite toy.
“Spring came, and wherever the boy went, the rabbit went too.” He did not notice that his coat was getting shabby and worn away in places. Then the big moment came. Nana was sent out to look for the rabbit, who had accidentally been left outside after a picnic, and she was cross at all the fuss being made for a toy. But the little boy insisted the velveteen rabbit was not just a toy: “He’s REAL”.
When the rabbit heard this he was so proud, and felt so much love himself for the little boy, that he felt his heart would burst.
Time passed. In the summer, he came across some wild rabbits. He was fascinated by them, but realised that they could do much more than he could. They could run, and jump, and hop, and even dance! The velveteen rabbit tried to cover up the fact that he had no hind legs, but eventually the wild rabbits realised that he could not hop as they did, and he didn’t smell right at all. They decided that he was not a real rabbit, and ran away. The velveteen rabbit was so very sad. After all, he knew he was real!
The velveteen rabbit becomes older and even shabbier, but he is happy, because the boy still loves him. That is, until one day the boy
This is a magical, wondrous story. What is it that makes something real in our minds? For an adult, many things are intangible, yet they are powerfully real. So it is for children. A velveteen rabbit is an object which can be touched, and seen, and played with. It is real in a physical sense. But also, it behaves as if it is real. The toy rabbit can breathe, he can cry, and he has emotions. He can become real in a different sense, when he is loved enough. But the story has a third level of reality in the story, .
“The mechanical toys, like the model train, were very stuck-up and boasted that they were real. But the Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed…”
This is a particularly nice picture edition of the story, from 2002. It is simply but elegantly told, and beautifully illustrated with naturalistic soft watercolours, by the award-winning duo, Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. Steve Johnson is the illustrator, and Lou Fancher has adapted Margery Williams Bianco’s story for very young children, including much of her original text.
There have been many adaptations of this favourite book, both in print, and on film and stage. It remains her most popular work. Margery Williams Bianco’s writing is unique, combining the innocence, playfulness and imaginative ability of children, with her trademark undercurrents of sentimentality and sadness. Invariably her books end on an inspirational uplifting note. Perhaps it is this which made her so immediately successful.
Although for the remaining two decades of her life, she wrote many more books and short stories for children, all with similar themes, there are undercurrents of sadness. The stories are poignant, and a little melancholy, with themes of loss and death present in all her children’s books. Most of them display her preoccupation with toys coming to life and the ability of inanimate objects and animals to express human emotions and feelings. Margery Bianco Williams always maintained that we grow and learn greater humanity through pain and adversity. The Velveteen Rabbit also has this at its core. Yet it is perfectly balanced.
All such stories acquire a sort of magic through the child’s own experience, and their subsequent nostalgia. There is sadness in The Velveteen Rabbit, but in the end the reader ends feeling optimistic and uplifted.
January 10, 2011
Some children's books should be read by adults. This is one of them. It examines the transforming power of love.
June 7, 2023
I've never once been able to read this book without crying. It is just so sweet and so sad. 😭😭😭
The little boy loves his stuffed rabbit with a love so pure, and that love is returned by the rabbit. After the rabbit helps the boy overcome scarlet fever, the rabbit is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. But finally he is rewarded for his love and sacrifice for the boy.
This is one of the greatest children's books of all time. Just be sure to have some tissues nearby as you read it to your child.
The little boy loves his stuffed rabbit with a love so pure, and that love is returned by the rabbit. After the rabbit helps the boy overcome scarlet fever, the rabbit is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. But finally he is rewarded for his love and sacrifice for the boy.
This is one of the greatest children's books of all time. Just be sure to have some tissues nearby as you read it to your child.
March 31, 2024
The writing made me wonder if the author had been ill as a child. The depiction of illness rings so true. So, I searched and found instead that we shared something else. That was the loss of a parent when very young. Seriousness is a trait that people like us find hard to shake.
This seriousness may be disturbing for some adult readers. But I wager that children will welcome its frank message. Resilience given half a chance, is there in all of us should we need it. Love can hurt sometimes. That's ok, it tells us.
Its author found out at the age of seven after the loss of her father. The illustrator, with the loss of his son in the First World War and of his wife in the influenza pandemic, knew as well. Their understanding comes across with sensitivity in every word and paint brush stroke.
A magical story, it is told with care and will build everyone's courage to form attachments.
This seriousness may be disturbing for some adult readers. But I wager that children will welcome its frank message. Resilience given half a chance, is there in all of us should we need it. Love can hurt sometimes. That's ok, it tells us.
Its author found out at the age of seven after the loss of her father. The illustrator, with the loss of his son in the First World War and of his wife in the influenza pandemic, knew as well. Their understanding comes across with sensitivity in every word and paint brush stroke.
A magical story, it is told with care and will build everyone's courage to form attachments.
September 15, 2019
دیشب این قسمت فرندز رو می دیدم، که جزء قسمت های مورد علاقه مه. کنجکاو شدم ببینم این خرگوش مخملی چیه که کتاب مورد علاقۀ چندلر بوده. گشتم و کتاب انگلیسی رو پیدا کردم. امروز هم فارسیش رو پیدا کردم و خوندم.
تا اواسط داستان، خیلی عالی پیش می رفت.
تا جایی که خرگوش مخملی در طول بیماری کنار پسرک می مونه، ولی درست به خاطر همین ایثارش می خوان بسوزوننش، چون کنار پسرک مونده و آلوده به ویروس شده.
اما بعد داستان به شکل عجیبی افت می کنه و یه دفعه شبیه داستان های هانس کریستین اندرسن میشه. از جایی که از اشک خرگوش یه گل در میاد و از گل یه پری بیرون میاد و...
انگار نویسنده توی دقیقۀ نود خواسته فضای تیره و تاریک داستان رو تغییر بده، و راه دیگه ای نداشته جز این که یه عنصر نامتجانس بیرونی (پری) رو وارد داستان کنه.
از اینجا می تونید داستانو بخونید:
https://ketabesouti.com/baby-night-ta...
March 21, 2018
What a delightful book! 🐰
December 18, 2019
4.5 stars. When I found out that the classic children's story "The Velveteen Rabbit" was old enough to be free online at Gutenberg.org (complete with the original illustrations!) AND that it has a Christmas connection - the story begins with the rabbit tucked into the boy's Christmas stocking - I couldn't resist. It's a heartfelt story about unselfish love and how that makes us more "real." Perhaps a little sentimental (okay, it's definitely sentimental) but it touched me.
Here's a link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11757 It only takes about 20 minutes or so to read.
December buddy read with the Retro Reads group.
Here's a link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11757 It only takes about 20 minutes or so to read.
December buddy read with the Retro Reads group.
February 23, 2022
I bought the beautiful 100th edition of the book. I also bought a very cheap hardback of the original book at my used bookstore. I’ve taken off the dust jacket to make something for my scrapbook. These are lovely books.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
September 28, 2022
Our daughter had a "Velveteen" Penguin, so naturally we read The Velveteen Rabbit to her on many occasions at bedtime. 🌙
To this day we can still hear Penguin wandering around the house at night. 🐧 🏠
To this day we can still hear Penguin wandering around the house at night. 🐧 🏠
February 2, 2013
I just read this to my 4-year-old daughter (after reading it to my son for years) and when I looked over through my watery eyes and saw the little tears racing down her cheeks, it confirmed for me that she would always understand the more precious aspects of life. If you love this book or you have children and don't know this book, I HIGHLY recommend the audio version with Meryl Streep as narrator and George Winston on piano. It is sublime.
September 11, 2019
How Toys Become Real = The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams Bianco, Donna Green (Illustrator)
The Velveteen Rabbit is a British children's book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. The book was first published in 1922. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. A stuffed rabbit sewn from velveteen is given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The boy plays with his other new presents and forgets the velveteen rabbit for a time. These presents are modern and mechanical, and they snub the old-fashioned velveteen rabbit. The wisest and oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, who was owned by the boy's uncle, tells the rabbit about toys magically becoming real due to love from children. The rabbit is awed by this idea; however, his chances of achieving this wish are slight. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز یازدهم ماه سپتامبر سال 2016 میلادی
عنوان: خرگوش مخملی؛ نویسنده: مارجری ویلیامز؛ تصویرگر: ویلیام نیکلسون؛ مترجم: رضی هیرمندی؛ تهران: انتشارات چکه، هندونه، 1394؛ در 48 ص، مصور؛ رنگی؛ شابک: 9786003770126؛ برای گروه سنی: ب، ج.؛ موضع: داستان حیوانات، خرگوشها برای کودکان از نویسندگان بریتانیایی - 20 م
این کتاب را آلا پاک عقیده نیز ترجمه کرده است
فهرست مطالب: فصل اول: صبح کریسمس؛ فصل دوم: فصل بهار؛ فصل سوم: تابستان؛ فصل چهارم: پسرکوچولو مریض میشود؛ فصل پنجم: زمان پر استرس؛ فصل ششم: پری کوچولو
یک خرگوش مخملی، به عنوان هدیه ی کریسمس به یک پسر کوچک اهدا میشود. پسر با هدایای دیگر خود بازی میکند و خرگوش مخملی را برای مدتی فراموش میکند. این هدیه ها مکانیکی هستند و خرگوش مخملی قدیمی را خراب میکنند. خردمندترین و قدیمیترین اسباب بازی در مهد کودک، اسکین که متعلق به دایی پسر بوده، به خرگوش میگوید اسباب بازیهای جادویی به دلیل عشق به بچه ها واقعی میشوند. خرگوش با این ایده منتظر است. با این حال، شانس او برای رسیدن به این آرزو اندک است. نقل از متن: «روزی روزگاری یک خرگوش مخملی بود که آن اولها واقعاً معرکه بود. چاق و تپل بود، همانطور که هر خرگوشی باید باشد. کتش خالهای سفید و قهوه ای داشت، سبیلهایش از نخ طبیعی بود و گوشهایش با ساتن صورتی آستر شده بود. او صبح روز کریسمس با شاخه ی کوچکی از درخت راج میان پنجه هایش، توی جوراب ساق بلند پسر فرورفته بود. چه منظره ی دلانگیزی بود! توی جوراب چیزهای دیگری هم بود؛ آجیل، پرتقال و یک موتور اسباببازی و همین طور بادام شکلاتی و یک موش کوکی، اما این وسط خرگوش از همه بهتر بود...» پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی
The Velveteen Rabbit is a British children's book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. The book was first published in 1922. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. A stuffed rabbit sewn from velveteen is given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The boy plays with his other new presents and forgets the velveteen rabbit for a time. These presents are modern and mechanical, and they snub the old-fashioned velveteen rabbit. The wisest and oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, who was owned by the boy's uncle, tells the rabbit about toys magically becoming real due to love from children. The rabbit is awed by this idea; however, his chances of achieving this wish are slight. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز یازدهم ماه سپتامبر سال 2016 میلادی
عنوان: خرگوش مخملی؛ نویسنده: مارجری ویلیامز؛ تصویرگر: ویلیام نیکلسون؛ مترجم: رضی هیرمندی؛ تهران: انتشارات چکه، هندونه، 1394؛ در 48 ص، مصور؛ رنگی؛ شابک: 9786003770126؛ برای گروه سنی: ب، ج.؛ موضع: داستان حیوانات، خرگوشها برای کودکان از نویسندگان بریتانیایی - 20 م
این کتاب را آلا پاک عقیده نیز ترجمه کرده است
فهرست مطالب: فصل اول: صبح کریسمس؛ فصل دوم: فصل بهار؛ فصل سوم: تابستان؛ فصل چهارم: پسرکوچولو مریض میشود؛ فصل پنجم: زمان پر استرس؛ فصل ششم: پری کوچولو
یک خرگوش مخملی، به عنوان هدیه ی کریسمس به یک پسر کوچک اهدا میشود. پسر با هدایای دیگر خود بازی میکند و خرگوش مخملی را برای مدتی فراموش میکند. این هدیه ها مکانیکی هستند و خرگوش مخملی قدیمی را خراب میکنند. خردمندترین و قدیمیترین اسباب بازی در مهد کودک، اسکین که متعلق به دایی پسر بوده، به خرگوش میگوید اسباب بازیهای جادویی به دلیل عشق به بچه ها واقعی میشوند. خرگوش با این ایده منتظر است. با این حال، شانس او برای رسیدن به این آرزو اندک است. نقل از متن: «روزی روزگاری یک خرگوش مخملی بود که آن اولها واقعاً معرکه بود. چاق و تپل بود، همانطور که هر خرگوشی باید باشد. کتش خالهای سفید و قهوه ای داشت، سبیلهایش از نخ طبیعی بود و گوشهایش با ساتن صورتی آستر شده بود. او صبح روز کریسمس با شاخه ی کوچکی از درخت راج میان پنجه هایش، توی جوراب ساق بلند پسر فرورفته بود. چه منظره ی دلانگیزی بود! توی جوراب چیزهای دیگری هم بود؛ آجیل، پرتقال و یک موتور اسباببازی و همین طور بادام شکلاتی و یک موش کوکی، اما این وسط خرگوش از همه بهتر بود...» پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی
July 27, 2023
What an endearing and meaningful children’s book that encapsulates the pure love of a little boy and his velveteen toy rabbit.
I read this book to my little boy and it will accompany us for a lifetime. It’s a beautiful reminder of unconditional love and support.
Thanks to all my bookish friends on this platform who wrote brilliant reviews on this children’s book, thus encouraging me to get a copy of the same.
Find me on instagram
I read this book to my little boy and it will accompany us for a lifetime. It’s a beautiful reminder of unconditional love and support.
Thanks to all my bookish friends on this platform who wrote brilliant reviews on this children’s book, thus encouraging me to get a copy of the same.
Find me on instagram
August 24, 2020
5★ . . "Or How Toys Become Real"
"There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen."
He was the perfect Christmas gift for a little boy who actually had a china dog he used to take to bed every night. The Rabbit was overlooked in the toy cupboard, snubbed by the other toys except for a threadbare, old "skin horse".
The Velveteen Rabbit in the toy cupboard with the Skin Horse
The Skin Horse explains that that love can make toys real. (Not a spoiler, it's the subtitle!) One night, Nana can't find the china dog, but she spots the little Rabbit. The boy clutches him happily as he goes to sleep, and from then on they are inseparable.
The boy plays with the little Rabbit everywhere and digs pretend rabbit burrows in the garden for him to hide in. One day, the little Rabbit discovers REAL rabbits!
The Velveteen Rabbit meets two real rabbits.
They poke terrible fun at him because he isn't real.
"'Can you hop on your hind legs?' asked the furry rabbit.
That was a dreadful question, for the Velveteen Rabbit had no hind legs at all ! The back of him was made all in one piece, like a pincushion.
He sat still in the bracken, and hoped that the other rabbits wouldn't notice.
'I don't want to!' he said again.
But the wild rabbits have very sharp eyes. And this one stretched out his neck and looked.
'He hasn't got any hind legs!' he called out.
'Fancy a rabbit without any hind legs !' And he began to laugh."
Poor little chap. But his boy declares that Bunny is real, so that should mean something. But then, horror of horrors, his boy becomes so ill with scarlet fever, that when he's well again, all of his toys and bedding must be burned - including . . . gulp, the little Rabbit, who is looking decidedly grotty and worse for wear. The boy is so excited about a promised trip to the seaside for the fresh air, that he doesn't notice.
But wait! This story hasn't been a firm favourite since 1922 for no reason. Just before the gardener is going to set fire to the sack, the little Rabbit wriggles out of the top and thinks.
"He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become Real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.
And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden."
The little Rabbit and the Fairy Flower
"'I am the nursery magic Fairy,' she said. 'I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don't need them any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real.'
'Wasn't I Real before? ' asked the little Rabbit.
'You were Real to the Boy,' the Fairy said, 'because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to every one.'
I don't care that this may owe something to Pinocchio, which was written in 1883, or that Toy Story probably owes a lot to both. I'm just delighted to have enjoyed it again because I was reminded of it recently and saw it wasn't on my Goodreads shelves.
I found a copy of the 1922 publication, from which I've copied illustrations, just to show where it started, but there are countless newer editions with more modern artwork that would probably appeal more to today's children (and parents and grandparents). But I thought I'd share the old art here.
It's as heart-warming as ever, and I love thinking that the old family toys might be frolicking around somewhere in another dimension (not this one - they'd be too old by now).
"There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen."
He was the perfect Christmas gift for a little boy who actually had a china dog he used to take to bed every night. The Rabbit was overlooked in the toy cupboard, snubbed by the other toys except for a threadbare, old "skin horse".
The Velveteen Rabbit in the toy cupboard with the Skin Horse
The Skin Horse explains that that love can make toys real. (Not a spoiler, it's the subtitle!) One night, Nana can't find the china dog, but she spots the little Rabbit. The boy clutches him happily as he goes to sleep, and from then on they are inseparable.
The boy plays with the little Rabbit everywhere and digs pretend rabbit burrows in the garden for him to hide in. One day, the little Rabbit discovers REAL rabbits!
The Velveteen Rabbit meets two real rabbits.
They poke terrible fun at him because he isn't real.
"'Can you hop on your hind legs?' asked the furry rabbit.
That was a dreadful question, for the Velveteen Rabbit had no hind legs at all ! The back of him was made all in one piece, like a pincushion.
He sat still in the bracken, and hoped that the other rabbits wouldn't notice.
'I don't want to!' he said again.
But the wild rabbits have very sharp eyes. And this one stretched out his neck and looked.
'He hasn't got any hind legs!' he called out.
'Fancy a rabbit without any hind legs !' And he began to laugh."
Poor little chap. But his boy declares that Bunny is real, so that should mean something. But then, horror of horrors, his boy becomes so ill with scarlet fever, that when he's well again, all of his toys and bedding must be burned - including . . . gulp, the little Rabbit, who is looking decidedly grotty and worse for wear. The boy is so excited about a promised trip to the seaside for the fresh air, that he doesn't notice.
But wait! This story hasn't been a firm favourite since 1922 for no reason. Just before the gardener is going to set fire to the sack, the little Rabbit wriggles out of the top and thinks.
"He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become Real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.
And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden."
The little Rabbit and the Fairy Flower
"'I am the nursery magic Fairy,' she said. 'I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don't need them any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real.'
'Wasn't I Real before? ' asked the little Rabbit.
'You were Real to the Boy,' the Fairy said, 'because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to every one.'
I don't care that this may owe something to Pinocchio, which was written in 1883, or that Toy Story probably owes a lot to both. I'm just delighted to have enjoyed it again because I was reminded of it recently and saw it wasn't on my Goodreads shelves.
I found a copy of the 1922 publication, from which I've copied illustrations, just to show where it started, but there are countless newer editions with more modern artwork that would probably appeal more to today's children (and parents and grandparents). But I thought I'd share the old art here.
It's as heart-warming as ever, and I love thinking that the old family toys might be frolicking around somewhere in another dimension (not this one - they'd be too old by now).
February 10, 2011
What a beautiful and touching story. I was truly blown away by it's originality and subtle message... there is nothing much else to say: it is a heartbreaking story. I cried and cried and just wanted the opportunity to love the Velveteen rabbit forever.
June 11, 2016
I'm sure I wrote a review about this book on this site at one time or another.......
The review may be lost ---my memories of this book never are!
I own it.......
Its a children's favorite!
*Thanks Duane --for re-visiting of memories from when you recently read it!
The review may be lost ---my memories of this book never are!
I own it.......
Its a children's favorite!
*Thanks Duane --for re-visiting of memories from when you recently read it!
June 6, 2016
Shame on you "Toy Story", you knocked off "The Velveteen Rabbit' and didn't even say thank you. Of course this was published in 1922, seventy-three years before Toy Story, so most of today's children haven't read this, which is a shame because it's a sweet story, soft and gentle like the little rabbit.
March 31, 2019
I remember this book being devastatingly sad to me when I was a child. Upon re-reading as an adult, I got misty-eyed, but was not nearly as upset. I'm not sure if that's because I was more prepared for what would happen, if it was just a by-product of being a grown up, or if it has anything to do with seeming a bit old-fashioned now that the story is nearly 100 years old.
In The Velveteen Rabbit, we follow a stuffed bunny from the time he enters a young boy's nursery one Christmas morning, through different seasons filled with play and growing love. But does the rabbit have what it takes to become Real? Is he loved enough?
This may not have been quite as magical as I remembered, but it's still a lovely story with a message that hits the heart.
In The Velveteen Rabbit, we follow a stuffed bunny from the time he enters a young boy's nursery one Christmas morning, through different seasons filled with play and growing love. But does the rabbit have what it takes to become Real? Is he loved enough?
This may not have been quite as magical as I remembered, but it's still a lovely story with a message that hits the heart.
May 11, 2012
This book scarred me for goddamned life. I still can't get rid of a stuffed animal. Do you have any idea how many stuffed animals live in my basement because of this book?
June 27, 2016
‘What is REAL?’ asked the Rabbit one day…
‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse.
It’s a thing that happens to you…’
But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly
‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse.
It’s a thing that happens to you…’
But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly
November 12, 2010
The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real by Margery Williams Bianco (1881-1944) was originally published in 1922 when she was 41 years old.
Tonight is my first time to read this book. Shame on me. It only took 15 mins to read it and at first I was totally not impressed. I thought I already saw the theme of previously-cherished toys being discarded either in favor of a newer or more hi-tech toy or when the child becomes an adult used in Disney/Pixar's movie Toy Story. I also thought I already read about the realization of growing old or passing of time used poignantly in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web. However, check the years. Toy Story 1 was shown in 1995 and Charlotte's Web was first published in 1952. Hence, unless there were other children's books with the same themes earlier than 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit was the original.
The story is very simple yet it strikes a chord in one's heart. It is about a stuff rabbit toy given to a boy on Christmas Day. Along with other hi-tech and shiny gifts, the little rabbit toy is not a big hit so he is kept in the boy's cabinet. One of them is an old wooden horse who tells the little rabbit that the latter can become real only when he is loved. One night, the boy's nanny cannot find her ward's bed companion toy so she gets the little rabbit. They seem to click so from then on, the boy sleeps with the little rabbit and brings him anywhere he goes. Being a stuff toy, the little rabbit has wear and tear: his color is fading, his hay-filled body is becoming out of shape, he is starting to lose his whiskers, etc. Despite those, the boy still loves him and this makes the little rabbit very happy. However, the boy gets sick with scarlet fever and the doctor orders the boy's parents to burn all his toys.
If you check Wikipedia, the vaccine for scarlet fever was only discovered in 1924 (two years after the first publication of Velveteen. Then in 1940, the vaccine was eclipsed by the discovery of penicillin. So, the burning of the toys in 1922 was a sensible order from the doctor.
I am not saying though that this book is better than J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1902) or Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Le Petite Prince (1945) or even A. A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh (1926). These three novels are far more comprehensive, multi-layered, imaginative and their characters are more memorable. However, the simplicity of The Velveteen Rabbit is its most endearing asset. The vulnerable and trusting little rabbit is much more endearing than the cockiness of Peter, the wisdom of the Little Prince and the cluelessness of Winnie.
Don't read the part below if you are not my brother:
To my brother who always likes to check if a novel has an allusion to sex, check this book out. The little rabbit is told that being worn out is the consequence of being loved. It does not matter if the little rabbit, because the boy loves him, later becomes out of shape, with faded color, loses its luster, with missing whiskers, etc because he is loved by the boy. Maybe Williams anticipated readers like my brother so she made both characters, the boy and the rabbit, as male ha ha.
Tonight is my first time to read this book. Shame on me. It only took 15 mins to read it and at first I was totally not impressed. I thought I already saw the theme of previously-cherished toys being discarded either in favor of a newer or more hi-tech toy or when the child becomes an adult used in Disney/Pixar's movie Toy Story. I also thought I already read about the realization of growing old or passing of time used poignantly in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web. However, check the years. Toy Story 1 was shown in 1995 and Charlotte's Web was first published in 1952. Hence, unless there were other children's books with the same themes earlier than 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit was the original.
The story is very simple yet it strikes a chord in one's heart. It is about a stuff rabbit toy given to a boy on Christmas Day. Along with other hi-tech and shiny gifts, the little rabbit toy is not a big hit so he is kept in the boy's cabinet. One of them is an old wooden horse who tells the little rabbit that the latter can become real only when he is loved. One night, the boy's nanny cannot find her ward's bed companion toy so she gets the little rabbit. They seem to click so from then on, the boy sleeps with the little rabbit and brings him anywhere he goes. Being a stuff toy, the little rabbit has wear and tear: his color is fading, his hay-filled body is becoming out of shape, he is starting to lose his whiskers, etc. Despite those, the boy still loves him and this makes the little rabbit very happy. However, the boy gets sick with scarlet fever and the doctor orders the boy's parents to burn all his toys.
If you check Wikipedia, the vaccine for scarlet fever was only discovered in 1924 (two years after the first publication of Velveteen. Then in 1940, the vaccine was eclipsed by the discovery of penicillin. So, the burning of the toys in 1922 was a sensible order from the doctor.
I am not saying though that this book is better than J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1902) or Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Le Petite Prince (1945) or even A. A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh (1926). These three novels are far more comprehensive, multi-layered, imaginative and their characters are more memorable. However, the simplicity of The Velveteen Rabbit is its most endearing asset. The vulnerable and trusting little rabbit is much more endearing than the cockiness of Peter, the wisdom of the Little Prince and the cluelessness of Winnie.
Don't read the part below if you are not my brother:
To my brother who always likes to check if a novel has an allusion to sex, check this book out. The little rabbit is told that being worn out is the consequence of being loved. It does not matter if the little rabbit, because the boy loves him, later becomes out of shape, with faded color, loses its luster, with missing whiskers, etc because he is loved by the boy. Maybe Williams anticipated readers like my brother so she made both characters, the boy and the rabbit, as male ha ha.
June 6, 2017
Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful story about how toys become real when you love them enough, we knew that of course but we suspect some might not realise this so it has a very important message.
There are some sad bits and it was hard to read aloud in places, but a happy ending!
There are some sad bits and it was hard to read aloud in places, but a happy ending!
April 15, 2019
Absolutely lovely!
December 13, 2015
First published in 1922, a REAL gem of a classic!
February 3, 2019
This review was written months ago. A mix of Christmas, children, family, presents and literature brought it to the surface.
Dec 19, 18
After watching another Friends marathon I noticed that The Velveteen Rabbit was mentioned twice. First, in a 1997 episode, "The One with the Dirty Girl" and four years later in "The One with the Halloween Party" since it was Chandler’s favorite childhood book. (That's not how a geek sounds.)
I wrote on some review that I wasn’t particularly fond of rabbits. When I read the The Book of Bunny Suicides, I think - that was fun. I had a couple of them as a kid and kept them at a safe distance.
Brownish rabbits look more innocuous. I like the concept of white, fluffy, little creatures until they look at me with those disturbing eyes filled with blood.
Sinister things happen inside those red pupils.
And it doesn't get much better when one takes a look at the Velveteen Rabbit:
It's chilling. Leaving that aside, a sitcom made me want to read this book and, following C.S. Lewis’ principles, I did. I found a charming tale I think I would’ve loved as a child. I liked the idea of how someone’s love makes you real – a foreign concept of great depth so easily forgotten. There's also a passage that reveals another essential notion to deal with superficial times.
Kids I know are going to receive books and/or cats. Never a rabbit from me.
Feb 03, 18
* Also on my blog.
** Photo credit: True albino via Flickr
Illustration by William Nicholson for The Velveteen Rabbit
Dec 19, 18
After watching another Friends marathon I noticed that The Velveteen Rabbit was mentioned twice. First, in a 1997 episode, "The One with the Dirty Girl" and four years later in "The One with the Halloween Party" since it was Chandler’s favorite childhood book. (That's not how a geek sounds.)
I wrote on some review that I wasn’t particularly fond of rabbits. When I read the The Book of Bunny Suicides, I think - that was fun. I had a couple of them as a kid and kept them at a safe distance.
Brownish rabbits look more innocuous. I like the concept of white, fluffy, little creatures until they look at me with those disturbing eyes filled with blood.
Sinister things happen inside those red pupils.
And it doesn't get much better when one takes a look at the Velveteen Rabbit:
It's chilling. Leaving that aside, a sitcom made me want to read this book and, following C.S. Lewis’ principles, I did. I found a charming tale I think I would’ve loved as a child. I liked the idea of how someone’s love makes you real – a foreign concept of great depth so easily forgotten. There's also a passage that reveals another essential notion to deal with superficial times.
Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn’t mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.
Kids I know are going to receive books and/or cats. Never a rabbit from me.
Feb 03, 18
* Also on my blog.
** Photo credit: True albino via Flickr
Illustration by William Nicholson for The Velveteen Rabbit
July 29, 2023
Bunnies!
A classic from childhood that was a delight to read again. I am going through a phase where I am rereading some classics as well as reading many I never got around to.
I just want to hug this little bunny hard. Being a fan of all things rabbit, it was a delight to reread this enchanting little story.
A classic from childhood that was a delight to read again. I am going through a phase where I am rereading some classics as well as reading many I never got around to.
I just want to hug this little bunny hard. Being a fan of all things rabbit, it was a delight to reread this enchanting little story.
February 1, 2019
A simple but profound story of how one small toy velveteen rabbit becomes "real" (through so-called nursery magic and because the velveteen rabbit is perceived as being real by the young boy who sleeps with it every night and plays with it every day), but I do have to admit that I am actually more than a bit glad I did NOT encounter Margery Williams Bianco's classic as a very young child (for I did indeed and very much akin to the Boy own a stuffed rabbit toy that was in many ways exactly the same kind of constant companion as is featured in the Velveteen Rabbit and quite frankly, I am rather sure I would have majorly and totally out at the scene where the doctor orders all of the Boy's books and toys, including his velveteen rabbit, to be burned because of the scarlet fever infection risk, with the fact of the physician more than likely being right with regard to the need to sanitise and disinfect the Boy's bedroom, including getting rid of certain very much contaminated and germ-ridden toys and books quite notwithstanding).
And also, really, and with my apologies to those of you who consider The Velveteen Rabbit a total childhood favourite, reading the book always makes me (on a personal and emotional level) feel rather frustrated with and even a bit angry at the Boy. For if this had been MY toy rabbit, I absolutely and definitely would have at least verbally and with angry tears rebelled and loudly complained at having my toys and books (and especially my favourite stuffed animal) burned (even if ordered by the doctor, even if for legitimate and realistic reasons, and truth be told, although as an adult, I do understand and appreciate why the doctor feels that the Boy's scarlet fever exposed books and toys need to be destroyed in order to keep potential reinfection at bay, I have still always despised the doctor's rather callous attitude and words, for they just seem so very coldly unfeeling and careless, they seem to consider the velveteen rabbit that is supposed to be burned as just some random and unimportant toy). But then again, even the Boy himself seems rather nonchalant at best towards what is happening, being described by Margery Williams Bianco as considerably more excited about and hankering after his promised recuperative trip to the seashore than in any way being sad about or angry at the doctor having ordered his treasured toys and books, including his constant velveteen rabbit companion, to be incinerated.
And indeed to and for me, the ending of The Velveteen Rabbit (with the toy rabbit actually being turned by the fairy into a real, into a bona fide bunny rabbit) is therefore and actually in many ways really quite massively bittersweet and even a bit painful. For the stuffed rabbit was totally and utterly real to the Boy because he considered his velveteen rabbit as real, he perceived it as being a true rabbit and a true friend, but in some ways (at least in my opinion), that very magical type of reality seems to kind of leave and disappear at the end, when the Boy just and simply accepts with not even one word of complaint and protest the doctor's orders that his toys must be destroyed, that even his special rabbit toy must be burned (and while I am well aware of the fact that I am more than likely imposing my own personal feelings here, I do stand by how I have always felt reading The Velveteen Rabbit, and that the Boy just calmly, without protest seems to accept his stuffed rabbit toy needing to be destroyed, this has indeed and in fact always somewhat majorly chafed and has also therefore generally left me more than a bit uncomfortable and unsatisfied with regard to Margery Williams' Bianco's The Velveteen Rabbit).
And also, really, and with my apologies to those of you who consider The Velveteen Rabbit a total childhood favourite, reading the book always makes me (on a personal and emotional level) feel rather frustrated with and even a bit angry at the Boy. For if this had been MY toy rabbit, I absolutely and definitely would have at least verbally and with angry tears rebelled and loudly complained at having my toys and books (and especially my favourite stuffed animal) burned (even if ordered by the doctor, even if for legitimate and realistic reasons, and truth be told, although as an adult, I do understand and appreciate why the doctor feels that the Boy's scarlet fever exposed books and toys need to be destroyed in order to keep potential reinfection at bay, I have still always despised the doctor's rather callous attitude and words, for they just seem so very coldly unfeeling and careless, they seem to consider the velveteen rabbit that is supposed to be burned as just some random and unimportant toy). But then again, even the Boy himself seems rather nonchalant at best towards what is happening, being described by Margery Williams Bianco as considerably more excited about and hankering after his promised recuperative trip to the seashore than in any way being sad about or angry at the doctor having ordered his treasured toys and books, including his constant velveteen rabbit companion, to be incinerated.
And indeed to and for me, the ending of The Velveteen Rabbit (with the toy rabbit actually being turned by the fairy into a real, into a bona fide bunny rabbit) is therefore and actually in many ways really quite massively bittersweet and even a bit painful. For the stuffed rabbit was totally and utterly real to the Boy because he considered his velveteen rabbit as real, he perceived it as being a true rabbit and a true friend, but in some ways (at least in my opinion), that very magical type of reality seems to kind of leave and disappear at the end, when the Boy just and simply accepts with not even one word of complaint and protest the doctor's orders that his toys must be destroyed, that even his special rabbit toy must be burned (and while I am well aware of the fact that I am more than likely imposing my own personal feelings here, I do stand by how I have always felt reading The Velveteen Rabbit, and that the Boy just calmly, without protest seems to accept his stuffed rabbit toy needing to be destroyed, this has indeed and in fact always somewhat majorly chafed and has also therefore generally left me more than a bit uncomfortable and unsatisfied with regard to Margery Williams' Bianco's The Velveteen Rabbit).
July 12, 2007
"It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
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