The Velveteen Rabbit

***The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real)*** is a British children's book written by Margery Williams (also known as Margery Williams Bianco) and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. The story was first published in Harper's Bazaar in 1921 featuring illustrations from Williams' daughter Pamela Bianco. It was published as a book in 1922 and has been republished many times since.

The Velveteen Rabbit was Williams' first children's book. It has been awarded the IRA/CBC Children's Choice award. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association voted the book #28 on the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".

## Plot

A young boy receives a plush toy rabbit made of velveteen in his stocking for Christmas. Though he is initially excited about the rabbit, he accidentally forgets about him after he opens his other presents. The nursery is populated by a variety of different kinds of toys, some of which are mechanical and have moving parts. They like to boast and pretend that they are real, treating the Velveteen Rabbit unkindly and dismissively since he is just a stuffed animal with sawdust for filling. However, the wise old Skin Horse takes the Velveteen Rabbit under his wing. The Skin Horse, who has been in the nursery longer than any of the other toys, has gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge in that time. He tells the Velveteen Rabbit that having moving parts doesn’t make a toy real. Mechanical parts can only break and fall apart. The Skin Horse has seen many mechanical toys come and go from the nursery over the years.

The Skin Horse tells the Rabbit that if a child loves a toy and plays with it for a long time and truly loves it, then that toy becomes real. Having grown worn out and shabby from being played for a long time, the Skin Horse tells the Rabbit that it is worth it to become worn out as long as the children have fun. The process of becoming real is a long one, which is why the mechanical toys that break easily can’t achieve it. The Skin Horse is real. He explains to the Rabbit that the Boy’s uncle loved him so much that he became real, and now he can never become a toy again, no matter how much his current owner might ignore him. The Rabbit doesn’t want to get worn out, but it does like the idea of becoming a real rabbit. One night, the Boy can’t find the china dog that always sleeps with him. So Nana, the woman who controls and tidies the nursery, gives the Velveteen Rabbit to the Boy so he can sleep with him. After that, the Velveteen Rabbit is a great favorite of his. The Boy plays with the Rabbit, carrying it around all the time until the Rabbit’s fur begins to rub off and its seams start to come apart in places. One night, in the spring, the Boy leaves the Rabbit outside accidentally. He asks Nana to retrieve the Rabbit from the garden, claiming that he is not a toy, but that he is real. The Rabbit is overjoyed to hear that the Boy thinks he’s real.

In the summer, the Boy takes the Velveteen Rabbit outside to the woods at the back of their house to play. A pair of real rabbits approach him, wanting to play, but the Velveteen Rabbit cannot move because he is only a toy. The Velveteen Rabbit is amazed that these two rabbits have hind legs and can jump and dance. The wild rabbits tease the Velveteen Rabbit, who insists that he is real until the Boy comes back and frightens the wild rabbits away. Over time, the Rabbit looks more and more ragged. Adults comment often on how old and ragged he is looking, but the Rabbit doesn’t mind how he looks, and the Boy doesn’t notice.

One day, the Boy becomes very sick with a dangerous case of scarlet fever. He is confined to bed, and the Velveteen Rabbit stays with him the entire time. Eventually, the Rabbit’s love is so strong that the boy gets better, and eventually the doctor tells the Boy that he will be going to the seaside for a holiday. The Rabbit wants to go to the seaside too, but the doctor declares that all the toys and books he played with while he was ill need to be burned to keep them from spreading scarlet fever germs. This includes the Velveteen Rabbit, whom the doctor declares is contaminated of germs. The Rabbit is placed in a sack with the other toys and taken to the back of the garden where a bonfire will be built in the morning. The Boy is given a new stuffed rabbit to replace the old one. The Rabbit sadly remembers the old memories he had about everything and wonders what good being real is if he just gets burned anyway. He cries one real tear, and where it lands, a strange flower grows and a wonderful Fairy emerges from it. She tells the Rabbit that she is the Nursery Magic Fairy, a kind spirit who takes care of all the toys that were loved once and then discarded, turning them real forever. The Rabbit is confused, as he thought he was real, but the Fairy explains that he was only real to the Boy because of their love, and she will now make him real to everyone. She takes the Rabbit into the forest and leaves him with a group of wild rabbits. At first, the Velveteen Rabbit doesn’t move so that the wild rabbits won’t find out that he is a toy, but eventually, he does; he realizes the Fairy has transformed him into a living rabbit.

One day, in the following spring, the Boy sees a pair of rabbits playing in the woods near his home. He thinks that one of them looks a lot like the toy he lost after he had scarlet fever. But he never realizes that it actually is his old toy rabbit, who has returned to get one last look at the Boy.

## Adaptations and References

* Storybook Studio is in development of a musical film adaptation of the book, to be released in 2024.