Velveteen Rabbit Study Guide

Synopsis 

One Christmas day a young boy was given a brown and white spotted velveteen rabbit with pink sateen ears. After a time, the rabbit and boy became inseparable. Fancier toys teased the Velveteen Rabbit because he was only made of velveteen and stuffed with old sawdust. However, his friend, the wise Skin Horse, told him about Nursery Magic that would make him real if he was loved by a child and gave love in return. 

As time went on the Velveteen Rabbit’s beautiful fur became shabby, his tail began to come apart and all the pink came off his nose where the boy kissed him. One day the boy told his Nana that the rabbit was real. The rabbit was so happy to be real that he never noticed his appearance. Left outside one night, he told some wild rabbits that he was real, but they also teased him and made him sad. 

Later the boy became ill with scarlet fever. The rabbit stayed by his side. When the boy was well, the doctor ordered that all the toys be burned because of germs. The rabbit was carried outside to be burned with the rubbish. Before he could be burned, the Fairy of Nursery Magic appeared. The fairy, who takes all the old, loved and worn out playthings that children no longer need and makes them real. The fairy took him in her arms and flew him to a place in the woods where there were other rabbits. She kissed him and told him to run and play. The Velveteen Rabbit became a real, live rabbit. 

About the Author

Margery Williams Bianco was born in London in 1881. She was the daughter of a lawyer and scholar who believed children were better educated without formal schooling. As a result, Williams attended school for only a few years in both America and England, and was home-schooled instead. Her first novel, written for adults, was published when she was only 17 years old. She continued to write adult books until the 1920s. 

The Velveteen Rabbit was Williams’ first attempt at writing for children. It has become her most well-known work and a children’s literature classic. Williams said, "Nothing is easier than to write a story for children; few things are harder, as any writer knows, than to achieve a story that children will really like."

About the story she said, "It was by a sort of accident that The Velveteen Rabbit became the beginning of all the stories I have written since… By thinking about toys and remembering toys, they suddenly become very much alive. Toys I had loved as a little girl — my almost forgotten Tubby, who was the rabbit, and Old Dobbin, the Skin Horse, and the toys my children had loved." Her daughter Pamela once remarked that her mother treated their toys as if they were real. 

Williams’ writings, although not prolific, ranged widely, including translations, educational readers and a travel book about Paris. She died in 1944 after a three-day illness.

Pre-Show Activities

Student Activity: Drama  Your Favorite Toy Becomes Real

Invite students to recall one of their favorite toys, a toy they played with often when they were younger. Next, invite them to imagine that the toy is now in front of them. Ask students to pick up the toy and play with it. Then ask students to trade toys. In order to successfully trade, students must tell the person with whom they are trading all about their toy - what it is, how it feels, what it looks like, what sounds it makes, how it moves. After trading, invite students to play with the new toy. Encourage students to believe that the Tonka truck or the Barbie doll is REALLY in their hands. After a few moments of playing with the traded toy, direct students to return the toys to their original owners.

Next, invite students to become their favorite toys. Then interview them in role. Explain that you are a film director looking for toys to act in your movie, Toy Story III. Encourage students to talk with voices that fit the toys. Here are possible audition questions:

- How old are you?

- What do you do best?

- How well do you get along with others?

- Who do you like to play with? 

- What is the nicest thing you have ever done for the child who loves you? 

- What is the worst thing the child who loves you ever did to you?

Student Activity: Writing and Art

Gallery of Favorite Toys

Invite students to draw a picture of their favorite toy. Next invite students to describe their favorite toy in a paragraph beneath their drawing. After pictures and descriptions are complete, hang the images, creating a Gallery of Favorite Toys. Next, invite half of the students to stand near the pictures of their favorite toys. Invite the other half of the class to go on a gallery walk and talk to the artists about their toys. Then have students trade places.

Post-Show Activities

Drama 

Replay of the Story Through Frozen Frames 

Invite students to discuss the main events of the plot that could include the following:

- Boy finds the Velveteen Rabbit in his Christmas stocking

- Velveteen Rabbit meets the Lion, the Model Boat and the Skin Horse

- Nana puts toys away.

- Boy leaves the Velveteen Rabbit outdoors

- Real rabbits make fun of the Velveteen Rabbit

- Doctor visits the Boy who is very ill

- Doctor orders all the toys to be destroyed

- Magic Fairy kisses the Velveteen Rabbit and he becomes Real

- Velveteen Rabbit joins the wild rabbits 

- Boy sees wild rabbits and wonders if he's looking at his old bunny

Next, in groups, invite students to plan a frozen picture representing one of the main events of the plot. All members of the group must appear in the frozen picture. For example, if the first moment is selected, when the boy finds the Velveteen Rabbit in the Christmas stocking, in a group of four, one student portrays the Boy, one portrays the Velveteen Rabbit, and two students become the stocking. The story can be reviewed frame by frame or selectively reviewed, looking at the moments best remembered.

Art 

· Have your students illustrate their own Velveteen Rabbit book. Have them draw pictures of the  Velveteen Rabbit when he was new and after he became well-loved.  Have them draw pictures of other  characters and compare their pictures with other students. Discuss how everyone sees things differently  in his or her imagination. 

· Have your students draw a picture of their favorite toys from the past and today. Make a classroom  mural of these toy pictures. 

Language Arts 

· Discuss the following statements with your students. 

o We can only love others after we start loving ourselves. 

o Being real means being able to fail. 

o Being real means being able to care for someone else. 

o Being different is hard. 

o To be loved is to..... 

· Discuss how toys have changed over time. Have students ask their parents and grandparents what their favorite toys were. Share the answers with the rest of the class and then discuss how the answers differ or are similar to what children like today.

Order Activity

Have students list important events from the story on the board. As a group, put the following play events in their proper order - what happens first, next, etc. Examples are listed below. 

A. ____ The toys must be burned because of germs. 

B. ____ The Velveteen Rabbit becomes real to the boy because it is loved. 

C. ____ The Skin Horse tells the Velveteen Rabbit about being real. 

D. ____ The Boy becomes sick with scarlet fever. 

E. ____ The fairy appears and makes the Velveteen Rabbit real to everyone. 

Play "Character Concentration"

You will need: Large blank index cards. Crayons or markers. Copy of the story for children to refer to. Scissors. 

Begin by reviewing the characters in the story with the children. Record the characters names on the chalkboard. Try to list as many characters as there are children in the class.

Tell the children that they are going to play the game concentration, using pictures of the characters they have just discussed. If necessary, explain how concentration is played. Tell the children that in this game they will match the two halves of a character card. Explain that they will draw the character cards themselves.

Pass out the index cards and have each child choose a story character to illustrate. Children may refer to the book for ideas. Help each child label their cards with the name of the character. When everyone is finished, collect the cards and show them to the class one at a time. Help children identify the character on each card. 

Rabbit Facts

- Newborn Rabbits do not have any fur and are blind and helpless. 

- Mother Rabbits shelter their young in a soft nest lined with fur that they pull out of their chest with their teeth..

- Cottontails are the most common wild rabbits in North America. They inhabit fields, prairies, marshes and swamps—wherever they can find bushes or clumps of tall grass in which to hide.

- European Rabbits are the most prevalent wild rabbits in Europe, Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. They have become pests in many of these regions and can present a threat to plant life.

- There are more than 40 breeds of domesticated rabbits including the Californian, Dutch, Holland lop, Netherland Dwarf, and Satin. 

- The Angora Rabbit’s long silky fur is spun into a soft, warm yarn. Rabbit fur is also used in making stuffed toys.

- Rabbits rely mostly on their hearing to alert them to danger. They can move their long, sensitive ears together or one at a time to catch sounds from any direction.

- A rabbit’s teeth grow continually throughout their lives. 

- Rabbits protect themselves mainly by hiding or running away. 

- Female rabbits are called does. Male rabbits are called bucks. 

- Rabbits are nocturnal animals. They eat and play from dusk until dawn and spend the day resting and sleeping. 

- A frightened rabbit can leap 10 feet or more and can travel as fast as 25 miles per hour.

- European rabbits live in large colonies and will warn one another about danger by making loud thumps with their hind feet before running off. 

- People are a rabbits greatest natural enemy. Hunters kill millions of rabbits each year for sport and food. 

- European Rabbits make interconnecting burrows under the ground that can be several hundred feet long.

Divide the cards into three or four equal groups of cards and cut each card in half. (If you have 20 total cards and divide them into four groups, you will end up with four decks of ten cards that make five characters.) Remind children that the idea is to match the two halves of a character card. 

Divide the class into groups and have them play concentration with their new character cards. After each group has finished a game, the decks can be rotated so that each group will have a chance to play with each card. 

Teaching Options:

Write the same number on each pair of cards to ensure accurate matches.

Illustrate several stories and combine the decks of cards to make the game more challenging. 

Have each child do two cards—one of the character and one of something that character would wear or carry. (i.e.: bunny & carrot, Nana & sewing basket)

Related Stories:

Astro Bunnies, written by Christine Loomis and illustrated by Ora Eitan.

A rhyming picture book tells the tale of bunnies who fly into outer space where they conduct experiments and meet bunnies from another place. [Putnam, 2001]

Cowboy Bunnies, written by Christine Loomis and Ella Fitzgerald, illustrated by Ora Eitan. 

A rhyming picture books tells the tale of bunnies who grow up to be cowgirls and cowboys. [Putnam, 1997]

Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery, written by Deborah Howe, assisted by James Howe and illustrated by Alan Daniel

Harold, the family pet dog, tells the hilarious story about living with a new family pet, a rabbit with fangs who is active only at night and who drinks the juice of red vegetables. The mystery: Is this Dracula in bunny form? [Alladin Library, 1996]

Jamaicaºs Find, written by Juanita Havill and illustrated by Anne Sibley OºBrien. 

Jamaica finds a stuffed dog left near the slide at the playground. When Jamaica finds the owner, she also has found a new friend. [Houghton Mifflin, 1986]

Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, written by Jan Karon and illustrated by Teri Weidner. 

A handmade bunny with honesty sewn right in, Jeremy sets off on a journey from England to America, facing many beastly obstacles along the way. [Viking Childrenºs Books, 2000]

Letters from Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour, by Annette Langen and illustrated by Constanza Droop. 

Written in the form of individual letters with stamped envelopes, this is the story of Felix who gets lost and then travels around the world, sending letters home. [Abbeville Press, 1994]

Letºs Make Rabbits, a fable by Leo Lionni. 

A rabbit drawn by a pencil and a rabbit cut out from paper eat a real carrot and become real. [Pantheon Books, 1982]

Nina Bonita by Ana Maria Machado, illustrated by Rosana Faria, and translated by Elena Irabarren. 

A little white bunny falls in love with a beautiful black girl. When he finds out he canºt turn himself black, he marries a black bunny and together they have gray, black and white baby bunnies. [Cranky Nell Books, 2001]

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann. *** Caldecott Medal Winner 2003 ***

Mouse lets his best friend Rabbit play with his airplane that accidentally lands in a tree. Rabbit tries to retrieve the plane by asking a number of animals to stand on top of each other, only causing more problems. [Millbrook Press, 2003] 

Special thanks to our sources: 

The Repertory Theater of St. Louis www.repstl.org
Theatre Bristol, Tennessee www.theatrebristol.org

                                                                 Last Updated: 05/06/2007                    Copyright Orlando Shakespeare Theater