The Velveteen Rabbit

I love when you rediscover a book from your childhood and just reading the title sparks a memory so strong you can actually remember the smells and sounds of the time. I adore this book. It is the epiphany of goodness and nature. As a child I didn't realise the message deep inside, but I guess that's the beauty of it. I didn't have to understand it was a message for it to be beautiful and make sense. As an adult, I can't wait to share this book with my four-year. This story is timeless. I hope some day my daughter grows up to read this book to her child.

Often children's books are more than just children's books. At the point of reading this is not always clear. But when hitting a significant age milestone, and you read a book like this, "what is real" becomes a very good question indeed. I don't think I can add much to what has already been said, a brilliant book that sits beside Stone Soup on my bookshelf, and is very real indeed.

I was feeling a little nostalgic one day and added this on a whim to my cart. I looked through it when it arrived and I couldn't help falling in love with it again. This book is a classic and all children should have the extreme privilege of being able to know and love this book. I don't think this item needs a long review to convince you to get The Velveteen Rabbit, especially if you've got a child to share it with. Get it. It's magical!

The board book version is missing much of the story, including one of the most important parts. The conversation between the Skin Horse and the Velveteen Rabbit was a reading at our wedding. If you haven’t read it as an adult, it’s actually very moving and encapsulates the message of the book - that becoming real isn’t pretty but is worth it. I was so excited to buy this and read it to my son but was so disappointed that much of the story, including the below, is missing! Total rip off. “ 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."

Dear Baby-person, When I heard from your grandfather of your arrival here on Earth I went directly to my bookcase to fetch my personal copy of this little story. Grandfather was in quite the hurry to get to the airport so he could fly to meet you. No time to get your name or other particulars. I reckon, "The Velveteen Rabbit", to be a welcome addition in any baby's library. I hope you like it. Seeing as you'll be quite busy, presently, growing hair and teeth and the like, and also not reading as yet, you should want to have someone read to you. May I offer my humble advice. Never too early to start. Once you're properly changed and fed, you should want to sit comfortably in someone's lap and be read to. It is the right duty and proper responsibility of those who read, to read to the young. This, as yet, has not been enshrined in any constitition of any sovereign nation I know of, but civilisation, Baby-person, is still in its infancy. Do not be a slave to perfection. No matter if the speaker is less than the best orator, or speaks with an accent, what matters is heart. The reader must really want to be there. A person with the clearest facility of diction and most melodious of speaking voices, who is thinking of the ball game or shopping, or lunch, whilst reading aloud to you, had better just be silenced. Close the book and tell the creature to bugger off and seek their heart's desire elsewhere. Find someone who really wants to be with you, and a good time shall be had by all. There are so many wonderful stories in the wide world, not the least of which, the story you shall write for yourself. The one which is your life to come. I wish you all the best in your endeavours, Baby-person. kind regards your humble servant G