The Velveteen Rabbit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Velveteen Rabbit | |
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| Author | Margery Williams |
| Illustrator | William Nicholson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Avon Books |
| Publication date | 1922 |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 40 pp |
| ISBN | 0380002558 |
| OCLC Number | 3690897 |
The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real is a children's novel written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real through the love of his owner. The book was first published in 1922 and has been republished many times since.
The Velveteen Rabbit was Williams' first children's book and it was the most popular of all her children's books.[1] It has been awarded the IRA/CBC Children's Choice award.[2]
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[edit] Plot summary
A boy receives a Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas. The Velveteen Rabbit is snubbed by other more expensive or mechanical toys, the latter of which fancy themselves real. One day while talking with the Skin Horse, the Rabbit learns that a toy becomes real if its owner really and truly loves it.
When the boy's china dog is misplaced, the Velveteen Rabbit is given to the boy as a quick replacement by the maid. The Velveteen Rabbit soon takes his place as the boy's constant companion. The Rabbit becomes shabbier, but the boy loves him no matter what. In the woods near the boy's home, the Velveteen Rabbit meets actual rabbits, and learns about the differences between himself and the real rabbits when the real rabbits prove he is not real by his inability to hop or jump or his shedding fur.
The Velveteen Rabbit's companionship with the boy lasts until the boy falls ill with scarlet fever. The boy becomes too ill to play for a very long time; upon his recovery, he is sent to the seaside on doctor's orders. The boy wishes to take the Rabbit with him, but his doctor forbids him to take the germ-laden toy and says it must be burned along with all the nursery toys in order to disinfect the nursery. The boy is given a new plush rabbit with glass eyes and is so excited about the trip to the seaside that he forgets his old Velveteen Rabbit. While awaiting the bonfire, in which the Velveteen Rabbit will be burned, the Rabbit cries a real tear. This tear brings forth the Nursery Magic Fairy. She tells the Rabbit that he was only real to the boy and brings him to the woods, where he realises that he is a real rabbit at last and runs to join the other rabbits in the wild.
The following spring, the boy sees the Rabbit hopping in the wild and thinks he looks like his old Velveteen Rabbit, but he never knows that it actually was. The Rabbit, however, knows that he used to be an old stuffed animal and the boy had loved him.
[edit] Film adaptations
The following adaptations have been made of The Velveteen Rabbit.
- In 1984 it was part of the "Enchanted Musical Playhouse" series, where Marie Osmond played the part of the Velveteen Rabbit.
- The Velveteen Rabbit was adapted into a video recording and soundtrack in 1985 by Random House Video; narrated by Meryl Streep, with music by George Winston.
- An animated version was shown on the ABC Weekend Special in 1985. It received a Parents' Choice Award for Multimedia and was a Grammy award nominee.
- In 2003 it was also adapted into a clay-animated film by Xyzoo Animation.
- In 2007 the first live action short film adaptation was released by Horse Fly Filmworks.
Feature Films For Families, Family1 Films and Believe Pictures released their adaptation in 2009. It is distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment, Thomas Nelson and Vision Films.
- The film adaptation was illegally telemarketed to over 500,000 telephone subscribers in the United States. Verizon successfully sued Feature Films For Families for the practice.[3]
[edit] References in popular culture
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2007) |
Bob Franke wrote "Velveteen Love Song", a song told from the perspective of the character of the velveteen rabbit. The song is included on his album "In This Night".
The Velveteen Rabbit played a role in the sitcom Friends twice. Once was in an episode in which Chandler got a first edition of the book for Joey's girlfriend, (worth about $15000 in reality). In a season 8 episode, Monica makes Chandler wear a pink bunny outfit at a costume party, which she mistakenly believed he would appreciate because his favorite book as a child was The Velveteen Rabbit.
On the episode "Ageless" on the show Smallville, Evan Sutherland refers to the book as his favorite before his death. Afterwards it is revealed that it was Clark Kent's favorite book as a child as well.
On the episode "Godzilla vs. Megalon" on the show Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Frank refers to the book, saying "And kids, don't forget to read Godzilla vs. the Velveteen Rabbit.[4] The next episode, "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster", opens with Joel reading The Velveteen Rabbit to his two robots, and here it is referred to as the robots' favorite book.[5]
In the Cold Case episode "The Good Death," Lilly's mother (Meredith Baxter) says that she read the book to her as a bedtime story especially when her daughter was not well. At the end of the episode, Lilly opens up a box of childhood mementos and picks out the book to read to her alcoholic mother.
In the episode "Orphans" from the 1987-1990's TV series Beauty and the Beast, Catherine reads an excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit during her father's funeral.
In 'Bridget Jones: The edge of reason' Bridget's mother reveals that it was her favourite book as a child and uses it to explain that people cannot be truly loved if they are too sharp and shiny. Later, when Bridget and Mark unite on the stairs, he is compared to the Velveteen Rabbit.
In Jan Karon's book In This Mountain, Father Tim reflects that his friendship with Bishop Stuart Cullen is one "in which all the hair, as in the story of the velveteen rabbit, had been rubbed off.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Margery Williams - The Velveteen Rabbit at Embracing the Child". Embracingthechild.org. http://www.embracingthechild.org/Bookspecialwilliams.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ Williams, Margery. "The Velveteen Rabbit, By Margery Williams , Illustrated by William Nicholson: HarperCollins Children's Books". Harpercollinschildrens.com. http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens/Kids/BookDetail.aspx?isbn13=9780380002559. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ Barrett, Rick (2009-02-27). "Telemarketer sued for cell-phone calls". JSOnline. http://www.jsonline.com/business/40460462.html. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ "MSTies Anonymous: Experiments: 212 Godzilla Vs. Megalon". Web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20071105204150/http://www.msties.com/episodes/212.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ "MSTies Anonymous: Experiments: 213 Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster". Web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20071105204156/http://www.msties.com/episodes/213.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- The Velveteen Rabbit at Project Gutenberg
- The Velveteen Rabbit (flip book with original illustrations) at Internet Archive
