Product Description

First published in 1922, this story about a child and his toy is now reissued, the illustrations having been re-originated with the aim of bringing back their true colour and charm. When Rabbit is rescued from the toy cupboard, a magic fairy changes him into a real rabbit, like those in the wood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #328302 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Review
The expiration of the copyright on The Velveteen Rabbit (1922), and some obscure meeting of minds, has brought us four new editions - all in full color, all but the Plume/Godine entry in picture-book dimensions with vignetted as well as full-page illustrations (and full pages of type). The original William Nicholson pictures probably never appealed to children as much as to adults (the format, certainly, was off-putting); but no one of these four artists manages, as Nicholson did, to bring the Velveteen Rabbit to life. And if the Velveteen Rabbit isn't a character (as, for instance, Don Freeman's Corduroy and Beady Bear are), the story lacks emotional conviction. The Atkinson/Knopf edition has enticing endpapers - the Velveteen Rabbit, at dawn, gazing longingly into the garden - that better capture the poignance of his situation than anything inside. The text is wrapped around many small vignettes - of the other toys or the other, "real" rabbits - so that, with its stained-glass coloration, the book has the look of a late-19th-century illuminated text. But insofar as the pictures illustrate the story, they run to prettiness and easy sentimentality. Michael Hague's illustrations are of the Jessie Willcox Smith, minutely detailed sort - the Velveteen Rabbit, by contrast, is probably the most completely stuffed of the lot. The Plume/Godine book has a smaller, rather pleasant format (though the text is in a very small type too); the cutesy, vacant pictures, however, are greeting-card art. As for the Tien/S&S version, it's wishy-washy in every respect - weak pastel colors, limp drawing, banal details (lots of butterflies, for instance). But every now and again Tien does try to give the story some dramatic punch and, however clumsily, to convey the discarded and forgotten rabbit's misery. The period design too, doesn't have the class of the Atkinson/Knopf edition, but it does have a homely appeal. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Does it hurt to be real? Sometimes.
Margery Williams' timeless classic about love is my favorite children's book. I didn't discover it until I became a teacher, and now I look forward to Christmas each year so I can read it to my students. It is a simple, tender, and innocent tale about a toy rabbit that is given to a little boy one Christmas. He isn't a very remarkable rabbit, and the boy easily forgets him. In the nursury the rabbit is befriended by the Skin Horse, who knows all about how toys become real: When someone loves you very, very much, you become real to that person. The rabbit wants to be real more than anything, and one day, the boy plays with the rabbit, and they become inseparable. That is, until the boy gets very ill, and all of the toys he played with must be burned! What is to become of our dear little rabbit now?

You'll have to read the story for yourself to find out, and the ending will bring tears to your eyes. The author chose her words so well that the simple text conveys deep feelings of longing, despair, and ultimate joy. I recommend this book for children and adults. It is a book you will never forget.

A must for anyone going through the grief process
This book has long been a standby in times of grief in our family, read aloud to children it gives them permision to feel unhappy and shows them how there is a possibility that they will survive. We have also at times listened to the tape. Older children and adults will see that not only is there a possibility of survival but that they may also come out "real" after the greiving experience. I constantly have a few copies to give to friends and my children's friends a month or two after a major loss. All are entranced by it and say how it has helped them . The story has not dated and the orriginal pictures are a joy.