The Velveteen Rabbit, a children’s book about a toy that becomes real through love, was written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson in 1922. It remains popular today and has been adapted into films and dramatized versions. The story is often used in weddings, with the theme of love and becoming “real” resonating with many readers.
The Velveteen Rabbit is a children’s storybook about a toy that comes to life. First published in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit proved to be a huge success, and continues to be in print today, with most bookstores boasting a copy in their children’s sections. Some English speakers have fond memories of reading the book as children, and it is sometimes given as gifts to new parents. Several film adaptations of the story have been made, along with recorded and dramatized versions.
The story was written by Margery Williams, supposedly inspired by a beloved toy of hers, and the original edition was illustrated by William Nicholson. In the story, a stuffed rabbit is given to a little boy. The rabbit interacts with other more imaginative toys owned by the child and develops a desire to become “Real” which is reinforced by interaction with real, living rabbits.
Another toy, the Skin Horse, explains the nature of being “real” to the rabbit, telling him that he becomes real through the love and beliefs of others. Over the course of the story, the rabbit gets progressively more and more run down and run down, and eventually the boy develops scarlet fever and the stuffed animal is doomed to destruction, along with other objects from the nursery. Upon learning of his fate, the rabbit cries and a fairy appears, turning him into a real rabbit so that he will be “real to everyone.
At the end of the story, readers are left with a scene of the boy seeing the rabbit and saying it looks remarkably like his lost toy. The theme of this imaginative story has to do with love, and being shaped by love, with the rabbit slowly developing into a “real” creature through the boy’s love and the work of magic. Many readers fell in love with The Velveteen Rabbit when the story was published in the 1920s, and the simple story quickly became a perennial classic.
A selection of The Velveteen Rabbit is sometimes included in weddings. Literary readings are very popular with many brides and grooms, and people with a romantic connection to The Velveteen Rabbit may be happy to be able to incorporate the book into their wedding vows. The most commonly used section of the book is the discussion between the rabbit and the leather horse, in which the horse talks about becoming real and being shaped by the love of others, and the horse points out that when “you are real you cannot be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
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