The book,'The Velveteen Rabbit' by Margery Williams is about a stuffed toy rabbit and his transformation into a real bunny. In the beginning of the book, the velveteen rabbit is a in perfect condition and is the best present in the little boy's stocking at Christmas. After Christmas morning, the rabbit is forgotten about for a while because of all of the other presents. The rabbit was put in the toy room where he felt inferior to all of the mechanical toys and the only friend he really had was the very old skin horse. It is the skin horse who was loved by the little boys uncle, that told the rabbit about nursery magic and how toys can become real if they are loved enough. The skin horse explains how the boys uncle made him real along time ago and the rabbit began to wish he were real too. One night, when the boys nurse could not find his china dog that he slept with every night, she gave him the velveteen rabbit instead. After that night, the rabbit was always by the little boys side. The more the little boy loved the rabbit and played with him, the more the rabbit became worn, slowly falling apart. In the spring time, the little boy would take the rabbit into the garden with him and build comfy places for the rabbit to sit. One night, the little boy forgot the rabbit out in the garden and the nurse had to go find him before the boy would fall asleep. When the called the rabbit a toy, the little boy protested that the rabbit was real. The rabbit was so happy that everyday was wonderful because he was real. During the summer, the boy took the rabbit out into the woods where the rabbit saw real live rabbits for the first time. The wild rabbits wanted the velveteen rabbit to play with them, but once they realized the velveteen rabbit did not have hind legs, they told him that he was not real. The velveteen rabbit was upset once they left because he knew he was real but he did not understand why he did not have hind legs like them. A while later, the little boy became sick with scarlet fever and the rabbit never left his side. When the little boy was finally better, he went to the ocean and everything that he had played with while he was sick was to be burned; including the velveteen rabbit. The night before being burned, the rabbit wiggled his was out of the sake that was left in the garden. While remembering all of his happy times, one tear fell from his eye and hit the ground. From that tear grew a beautiful flower and from the flower came the most beautiful fairy. She picked the velveteen rabbit up and took him into the woods where she made him real to everyone, not just the little boy. When spring came back, the rabbit saw the little boy playing in the woods and for a moment, stood there while the little boy stared at him, never realizing it was his old bunny.
This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. I had so many stuffed animals that I loved until they fell apart and I always imagined that they turned into real animals once they were too worn for me to play with. Young children can become very attached to their toys and can easily relate to the love the little boy had for the velveteen rabbit. The book has been awarded the IRA/CBC Children's Choice Award. The story encourages the use of imagination for all ages I think. While it is an easy read, I think it might be a little too difficult for kindergartners to read alone. It would be a great take home read for first graders to read with their parents and a good read aloud for a teacher of a younger grade. There is a wide rang of vocabulary used and some pages are filled with nothing else other than words. This book could have many uses in a classroom and is also a great bed time story.
Williams, Margery (1983). The Velveteen Rabbit. New York, NY:Square Fish Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment