To Be Real

The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real by Margery Williams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Reviewed on 02/11/2012







‘What is REAL?’ asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender1, before Nana2 came to tidy the room. ‘Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?’

‘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.’









The writing is wonderful and the story is heartbreaking in a wonderful way. How can a story break your heart in a wonderful way? Well, when I find myself with tears of sadness and happiness all together. That’s when my heart is breaking in a magical way.

The little Rabbit is so sweet and his wish to be real made me think of the story in AI. Is not that sad, but the way the Little Rabbit believed his dream could come true is so heartfelt and made my heart sing.

I love this book. I smiled and cried with it. I learned new things and saw the world with brand knew eyes because of it.

A story like this one makes me feel like I’m a little girl again. A girl with innocent eyes and a hopeful heart.











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