The Doll Book of the Month: The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real

   I am finally catching up with last month's Doll Book of the Month! It's a book I have mentioned a few times on the blog. It's The Velveteen Rabbit.

  This is Fuzzy's copy of The Velveteen Rabbit, rescued from a box on the bottom shelf of the book case that burned halfway down. It had been a little wet and had to be cleaned off, but it's pretty nice, especially considering it's ordeal. Emma has a more modern copy, which we read to her when she was little. But this edition has the original illustrations by William Nicholson.

  The Velveteen Rabbit was written in 1921, which accounts for the flowery speech, by Margery Williams. It was first published in Harper's Bazaar, (with illustrations by the author's daughter, Pamela Bianco.), before being published as a book in 1922. This was Williams' first children's book. I have reviewed another of Margery Williams' book on the blog, "The Little Wooden Doll". I'm not sure if I still have that book, as it would have been next to Fuzzy's room when the fire happened. A lot of my books got packed away and sent to storage. I'm just hoping they weren't wet at the time, as I have found things in storage that Ken packed up wet and they were molding.

  I described the trouble Ken and I had reading this book to the kids. The book, which is beautifully written, is sad in parts, but mainly it's just so heartbreakingly touching. I specifically remember reading this book to Emma on our couch, with Emma in the middle, and me on one end, and Ken on the other. We took turns reading because we'd be crying so much we couldn't continue. I'd read until I was crying too much to read further, and then I'd pass the book to Ken. He'd read until he was crying too much to read, and then he'd pass it back to me. So let's see what brought on all that crying.

Beware, because spoilers await all ye who enter here.

  The story begins with the Rabbit being given to the Boy one Christmas, in the Boy's stocking.

  The Rabbit lives in the nursery with the other toys, including The Skin Horse, who is very wise. 'Skin horses', and other animals were a real thing back in those days. It just meant a leather horse, often on a platform with wheels, so it could be pulled. 

One day the Skin Horse explains to the Rabbit how toys become 'Real'.

 The Skin Horse explains that the Boy's uncle made him Real, years ago.

  The Rabbit is thrilled when one night the Boy declares to his nurse that the Rabbit, "isn't a toy! He's REAL!"

  After that the Rabbit has a wonderful summer, playing outside with the Boy. But one day he is discovered by two real real rabbits, who tease him for not being real. The Rabbit doesn't understand, pleading that he IS Real.

  The Rabbit is very hurt when the rabbits won't play with him and run away. But the Boy continues to love the Rabbit, so much so that what the Skin Horse said about being loved until one is worn and shabby happens to the Rabbit. But the Skin Horse was right about something else: when you are Real, it doesn't matter.  

  Is it just me, or is anybody else getting a human equivalent from this? Like when you love someone and you grow old together, and they don't notice how old you're looking, because they love you so much? I'm not crying! You're crying!

  But one day the Boy becomes sick. He has Scarlet Fever, which in those days was a very serious illness. In fact, Fuzz got Scarlet Fever as a kid, and it scared me to death. My aunt had Scarlet Fever as a young woman, and was ill and recovering for a year or more. But when Fuzz had it I found out that it isn't a big deal these days. Antibiotics take care of it. Most people only get strep throat, which is connected, but not actually Scarlet Fever. But in the era this book was written, it was considered very dangerous and contagious. As the Boy recovered, the doctor ordered all his books and toys, including the Rabbit, who had weathered the Scarlet Fever storm with the boy, upon his pillow, to be burned. Fortunately the servant who hauled it all to the heap to be burned was a lazy sort, who decided to leave it until morning. The poor Rabbit lay on the heap sadly, wondering what was to become of him. He is so sad, in fact, that a real tear falls from his eye. Where it falls a flower suddenly grows. The flower opens, and out steps a fairy.

The fairy explains that she takes all the toys that are old and worn out, and no longer needed by children, and makes them Real. The Rabbit is confused, because he thought he was 'real'. The fairy explains that he was Real to the Boy, because he loved the Rabbit. But she will make him Real to every one. She takes the Rabbit into the forest, and introduces him to the wild rabbits, kisses him and puts him down. The Rabbit is told to 'Run and play'.

But he doesn't run, because he remembers that his rear is made all in one clump, because he is a toy, and he can't run. But then he has an itch, and without thinking, raises a foot to scratch it. He discovers that he has hind legs! The Rabbit springs around in joy. When he finally stops to look for the fairy, she has gone.

  Months later the Boy was playing outside, when two rabbits come out to look at him. One of them has strange faded markings, just like his old stuffed bunny. That last line! I am NOT crying!

  Oh my goodness, this book! Beautiful and sad, probably more to adults than kids, who haven't lived through this stuff yet. It makes me cry, partially for the same reason as Jessie's song in Toy Story 2. Ahhh!!! Sadness for the toys that are loved so much and then forgotten, sadness for lost years, sadness for children growing up and away. And it's all written in such a beautiful way. I do highly recommend this book, but have your hankies ready.

  That's the book for August. Don't forget to also check out today's doll post. See you tomorrow. 

The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Little Wooden Doll

 Here it is the end of the month already. Ivy will be starting classes again tomorrow, and going back to college the next week. I have been spending as much time as I can with her before she leaves  home again. It makes me nervous that she is going back too, with the virus still ongoing. 

  While Ivy is elsewhere, it's time for  this month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry.  This month we're looking at The Little Wooden Doll, by Margery Williams Bianco.

The book can be expensive, but I found this discarded library edition from the 1940's for a really cheap price online. 

  Originally published in 1925, The Little Wooden Doll tells the story of, well... a little wooden doll. 

She's been relegated to the attic, where she has spent many lonely years. Her friends are the mice, and  the old spider. She's invited to the mice parties, but there's always the underlying loneliness in her heart.

 "On summer days, when the sun shone, a beam of light came through the attic window. Golden dust motes danced in the beam, and it was beautiful to see. Sometimes, then, a bumblebee would blunder in, or a great, spotted butterfly, or sometimes a swallow would perch at the open window, and all these had news to bring of the outside world: of the cornfields and the flowers and the blue sky. And sometimes, at night, when the moonlight lay on the attic floor, the mice would give parties, and to these the little wooden doll was always invited. "

  She barely remembers being loved by a child, but she feels the empty spot where a child should be in her life.

 "On the whole the little wooden doll had a pleasant life. Only sometimes, toward dusk, when the mice were busied with their own affairs, when the spiders dozed in their hammocks, and only the little gray moths fluttered to and fro, a feeling of sadness came over her. For dolls are made for children and deep in every doll's heart there is a longing to be loved by a child. And at times, when the rain beat on the shingles and the smell of wet earth came up through the attic window, something stirred in the little doll's memory. She recalled dimly a time when some one had really loved her, some one who had carried her about and put her to bed at night, and on rainy days like these played with her on the nursery floor. It was so long ago that the little wooden doll could not remember very clearly, but she knew that these things had once happened, and she thought that if only some little child would come again to the attic, and play with her, she would be quite happy."

  One day the mice, who are wonderful eavesdroppers, report that children are coming to stay in the house. The little wooden doll is very excited, and tries to tidy herself, for she has become very dusty in all her years in the attic. The mice help with the spots she can't reach, and the little wooden doll readies herself to be found by the children, in her corner by a stack of old books.

  The children don't come to the attic until they venture up one rainy day. 

They do find the little wooden doll, but it's not the happy ending the little wooden doll was expecting. The children think she's old fashioned, and ridicule her for her dirtiness, her lack of clothes, and her missing paint. When they are called downstairs the little wooden doll is dumped on the window ledge.

   Whether  she falls by accident, or lets herself fall out of hopelessness, the little wooden doll drops out the window and falls into the flower bed below. Her mice friends come to her rescue, of course, and in a "Wizard of Oz"-like moment, ("Stay with us then Dorothy. We all love you. We don't want you to go.") , ask the little wooden doll to let them take her back to the attic to stay with them, because they love her. 

  But it's decided that the little wooden doll needs to be brought back to her original beauty so a child will love her. There are wonderful descriptions of how the animals and insects transform the little wooden doll.

 I'll save that pleasure for your own reading experience. I'll also save the end of the book for your own reading and not spoil the surprise.

  Although the book is so well written in so many other ways, the ending, which is the payoff we've been waiting for, seems a little rushed. It's as if someone told the author, "You only have a few more pages Margery. Wrap this story up."  I still recommend the book though. The old fashioned, flowery storytelling is wonderful and warm. The story is familiar, the old tale of a toy who longs to be loved by a child, but it's beautifully told. Small children can enjoy the book, as can adults! It may be a bit slow moving for very small kids, but all kids are different. Emma was sitting for old fashioned books like this when she was less than 4, but then, that's Emma.

  Oddly enough, Margery Williams Bianco wrote a horror story too, a werewolf story called, "The Thing in the Woods", published in 1914. For some reason it was revised for American publication, and a pseudonym, Harper Williams, was used. Even more odd, H.P. Lovecraft was a fan of the book. He wrote a poem called "On The Thing in the Woods by Harper Williams", and some believe the book influenced Lovecraft's own creepy book, "The Dunwich Horror"! (I really dislike Lovecraft stuff. It's way too crawly for me.) 

 The Little Wooden Doll has lovely illustrations by Margery's daughter, Pamela Bianco. 

Pamela illustrated the book at the age of 19. By that age she was an old hand at art, having been something of a child prodigy. She had exhibitions of her work in London, New York, and cities across the United States before she was 17. Pamela wrote and illustrated many books, and illustrated books by other authors as well, including her mother's, "The Skin Horse". Her work is shown in many museums, and a retrospective of her work was held in London in 2004.

  Some of you may know Margery Williams Bianco's most well known book, the heartbreaking, "The Velveteen Rabbit". Ken and I used to read "The Velveteen Rabbit" to Emma when she was very small. It's a beautiful and beautifully written story, but as I said, absolutely heartbreaking. Ken and I would sit on opposite ends of the couch, with Emma in the middle, and take turns reading the book to her, each one passing it to the other when they were crying too hard to continue. It went back and forth until we reached the end of the book. Ken didn't help me read it to the other kids, as I recall. I know I read it to Ivy alone. (When I cried reading a book to Ivy she just looked at me and asked me why I was crying. She still makes fun of me when I cry during movies.) Maybe some day I'll review "The Velveteen Rabbit" here. I expect I'll be brought to tears just doing that. 

  That's the doll book of the month. I'll see you again soon for all sorts of posts, including the long promised Maru and Friends review.