Becoming Real: The Velveteen Rabbit (The Classic Edition) by Margery Williams Bianco

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become REAL."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. Generally, by the time you are REAL, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get very shabby. But these things don't matter, because once you are REAL, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

An abiding story, Margery Williams Bianco's classic toy story has been associated with the Easter season, not just  for its toy rabbit hero, but for its deep spiritual theme, a resurrection metaphor, a story of spiritual growth and transformation in a warm, homey setting of a boy who survives a serious illness with the comfort of his once beautiful Christmas rabbit.  Generations of children have heard this story, some hearing only a fanciful story of  an outgrown toy, and some growing into the understanding of this story as they become adults.

Artist Charles Santore has given this classic transformation tale of How Toys Become Real, giving to its venerable narrative a new illustrative style, beautiful paintings in a masterful palette which rival those of the original in evoking this lovely story of childhood, old age, and the hope that they share.  His  The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real (Applesauce Press, 2012), an elegantly tasteful reimagining of this text is a wonderful way to share this meaningful story with young children, a story that never grows old as its readers always do. A must read for all children in those magical years.

Toy Story, Too: My Special One and Only by Joe Berger

CAPTAIN CAT WAS BRIDGET'S SPECIAL ONE AND ONLY AND EVEN IN HER DREAMS SHE HELD ONTO HIM.

But Bridget Fidget's dreams that night are all about the Tooth Fairy, who comes through with a gold coin in exchange for her first lost tooth. Bridget knows that money in her hand means she gets a trip to the world's best toy store, DingleBang's, and soon she pops her gold coin into the sailor-suit pocket of her beloved plush buddy, Captain Cat, pops him into her backpack, and bounces off with her mom for an epic shopping trip.

But in a Rube Goldberg comedy of errors, things go terribly wrong at DingleBang's. As Bridget Fidget spizzooms through the dazzling store, the handle of a lady's umbrella hooks Captain Cat, depositing him almost immediately into the shopping basket of another little girl. It's love at first sight when the girl lays eyes on the cutesy Cat, and by the time Bridget notices what's happened, that girl has bonded with her one and only special toy!

CAPTAIN CAT WAS 100% NOT THERE!"

"NOOOOOOoooooo!"

Suddenly Bridget Fidget forgets about new toys and concentrates on recovering her old One and Only. Bridget gets some help from a serendipitous knight-in-shining-armor, a.k.a. Billy, in a shiny and swift toy car who gives her a lift in the chase to recover Captain Cat. There is many a comic twist before B.F. and her BFF Captain Cat are reunited, in an action-packed climax, but when the dust settles, the two are back together, and calm is restored when Bridget uses some of her tooth-fairy loot to buy the disappointed little girl a charming cat toy of her own, buoyed by the discovery that her revenue stream is intact as she discovers a new, loose and wiggly tooth.

With the visual punch of a fast-paced 1970's cartoon chase, complete with sound effects (YIKES! SCREECH! KABOOF!), Joe Berger's My Special One and Only (Dial Books, 2012) is a funny and fantastical romp in this second outing for his frenetically energetic heroine. (See Berger's earlier Bridget Fidget and The Most Perfect Pet).