"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.
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 realizes 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.
From the Wikipedia article The Velveteen Rabbit
I can't even begin to unpack how great this simple story is in terms of exploring what is real and what is fiction. It plays with reality and fantasy in much the same way that I am interested in looking at illustration-style images vs. photographic-style images, deals with death and loss, with love making something real. . .
I had no idea that this book was also called "How Toys Become Real" but I think that is one of the most fantastic and amazing titles for a book I have ever heard. It immediately reminds me of Pinnochio (obviously) but then in a tangential way, Peter Pan (maybe because they are both Disney? or both about dreams and fantasy?) which leads me in some kind of linear fashion to Michael Jackson, and then to Jeff Koons and on and on. So this may have nothing to do with those things, but they seem to be next to one another in my brain.
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