The Velveteen Rabbit

Here come the water works.

Somebody gave me a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit as a gag gift.

7-year-old and 25-year-old me cried a little.

In my youth, watching cartoons was a full-time job and I took it dangerously serious. When my siblings and I were kids we would spend our Saturday mornings creating out of this world messes in the family room and watch cartoons. But as it were, cartoons typically only lasted until about noon or 1 p.m., so to pass the rest of our afternoon we would either pop in one of the many Disney movies on VHS or see what the network was playing that afternoon.

In another post I had mentioned watching movies on TV was at best a crap shoot. While there were some great flicks (like “Back to the Future”), there also were some poor choices. And in one case that poor choice was an adaptation of a children’s book classic loved by many -- the Velveteen Rabbit. I do not belong in the “many” category.

Even the cover is depressing.

Unlike many people who have read this story or seen one of the countless movies based on it, the Velveteen Rabbit continues to be one of the saddest stories ever. A little boy gets a toy rabbit for Christmas one year, and loves it more than any other toy he has. But their love has a snag when the boy comes down with measles. Regardless, the boy continues to prize his rabbit, until the point when he finally gets better and all of his toys -- including the prized rabbit -- must be destroyed or he could potentially catch the deadly disease again. This is not a children’s book -- its a national tragedy.

Now some of you who have read it before will say, “Oh, but at the end of the book a fairy comes and turns him into a real rabbit, and he lives happily ever after?” Yes, true, but that’s only part of the ending, because as most versions go, the boy sees the rabbit shortly after he becomes real and you know what he does? Ignores it as a just some rabbit in the woods. They don’t become friends again. To me, that is far from happily ever after.

Now, I’m actually a sucker for a good tearjerker and movies that should not affect someone my age still do. For instance, I choke up every time I watch “The Lion King” (when Mufasa dies) and “Beauty and the Beast” (when the Beast transforms into the hideous dude at the end). I also love Pixar movies even though I’m more and more convinced they are just pretty colored ploys to get parents to weep tears in front of their kids. Seriously “Up,” not cool.

But the Velveteen Rabbit has always been a sore subject. One that my siblings often bring up (especially my youngest brother) to make fun of me. Is it weird for a 25 year old to get that affected by a children’s book? Maybe, but I’m sure many people my age are in similar situations. But I do know that it would not be the case today if it hadn’t had such an impact on me as a 7 year old.