Margery Williams (1881–1944)
Author of The Velveteen Rabbit
About the Author
Author Margery Williams was born in London, England on July 22, 1881. She moved to the United States when she was nine-years-old and alternated between living in the United States and England for the rest of her life. She is best known for her thirty children's books, but she also wrote novels for show more adults and young adults. Her most popular works include The Velveteen Rabbit, Poor Cecco: The Wonderful Story of a Wonderful Wooden Dog Who Was the Jolliest Toy in the House Until He Went Out to Explore the World, and The Little Wooden Doll. Her young adult book, Winterbound, was a runner-up for the 1937 Newbery Medal and was retroactively given the Newbery Honor award when it was established in 1971. She died on September 4, 1944 at the age of 63. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Margery Williams
The Velveteen Rabbit (Illustrated): The 1922 Classic Edition with Original Illustrations (2023) 22 copies
The Velveteen Rabbit Coloring Book: A storybook to be colored in, With captions lifted from the original text (1984) 18 copies
The Velveteen Rabbit & Other Animal Adventures (Wordsworth Children's Classics) (2015) 18 copies, 1 review
The Velveteen Rabbit & I Will Always Be Your Bunny: Classic Stories of Love and Friendship for Children (2020) 5 copies
The Price of Youth 5 copies
Writing and Criticism: A Book for Margery Bianco — Contributor — 5 copies
The Velveteen Rabbit Plush Gift Set: The Classic Edition Board Book Plush Stuffed Animal Toy Rabbit Gift Set (2020) 3 copies
The Late Returning 3 copies
The Velveteen Rabbit 2 copies
Veleteen Rabbit 2 copies
Velveteen Rabbit 1 copy
Green Grows the Garden 1 copy
Sense and Sensibility 1 copy
Penny and The White Horse 1 copy
Poor Cecco (2/2 copies) 1 copy
Mr. Murdle's Large Heart 1 copy
Poor Cecco 1 copy
The Velveteen Rabbit - DVD — Author — 1 copy
Harper's Bazar Magazine 1 copy
A street of little shops 1 copy
Peeps at Great Cities: Paris 1 copy
Associated Works
The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature, Volumes 1-2 (1955) — Contributor — 520 copies, 4 reviews
The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature: The World's Greatest Kids' Lit as Comics and Visuals (2014) — Contributor — 101 copies, 1 review
Sidsel Longskirt and Solve Suntrap: Two Children of Norway (1935) — Translator — 14 copies, 1 review
Four cents an acre; the story of Louisiana under the French, from "Notre Louisiane" — Translator, some editions — 8 copies
Juniper Farm, "Il était quatre petits enfants" — Translator, some editions — 4 copies
Bruin's Midnight Reader: Strange and Engaging Stories for the Curious (2022) — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Williams, Margery
- Other names
- Bianco, Margery Williams
Williams, Margery Winifred
Bianco, Margery
Williams, Harper (pseudonym) - Birthdate
- 1881-07-22
- Date of death
- 1944-09-04
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Convent School, Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania
- Occupations
- children's book author
short story author
novelist
translator
essayist - Awards and honors
- Newbery Honor (1937)
- Relationships
- Bianco, Pamela (daughter)
Williams, Robert (father) - Short biography
- British-born Margery Winifred Williams moved with her parents to the USA in 1890. She became a professional writer at age 19. In 1904, on a visit to her English publisher, she met and married Francisco Bianco, an Italian living in London. The couple went to live in Turin, Italy, for many years. Margery eventually returned with her own family to the USA in 1921. She's best remembered today for The Velveteen Rabbit; or, How Toys Become Real. It became an instant classic and has been adapted many times as theater, radio, television, and animated films. In her final years, she interspersed writing novels for young adults with her children's books, and her daughter Pamela illustrated some of the works. Margery Willams won a Newbery Honor in 1937 for Winterbound.
- Nationality
- UK (birth)
USA (naturalized) - Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
New York, New York, USA
Pennsylvania, USA
Turin, Italy - Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
I love children's books that can be read hundreds of times without my tiring of them--the ones whose pages become worn but that one can never really bear to part with. They're incredibly entertaining for children but also contain deeper, subtle adult messages. Those are the sorts of books I enjoyed as a child, that I've also come to love as adult as my understanding of them deepened. They offer more than familiarity and comfort. A good children's book speaks to some aspect of how we show more understand the world or ourselves in it. For me, The Velveteen Rabbit is one of those books. It's a story of a toy bunny who becomes real. It's his love of a little boy and that little boy's love of him that's so complete and magical that through their love he becomes real. Love remains even when the object of it changes or is removed; it is not experienced without pain and an acknowledgment of an otherness. It's a sweet wonderful story that I will never stop loving. show less
First sentence: THERE was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen.
Premise/plot: Do you know what it is to be real? One little Christmas bunny will learn this and plenty of other life lessons in Margery Williams' classic tale The Velveteen Rabbit.
The Velveteen Rabbit opens with a young boy receiving a rabbit for show more a Christmas present. All is lovely for the rabbit that first day. But the toy is quickly forgotten. He becomes one toy of many, many, many toys. He's not exactly special to the boy or the other toys. In fact, I'd say the other toys bully him a bit. All except for the Skin Horse, the oldest toy in the nursery. It is this horse that tells the Rabbit all about being real, what it takes to be real, what it feels like, how it changes you, etc.
"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, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen 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." "I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always." (5-8)
My thoughts: The Velveteen Rabbit is one of my favorite Christmas books. I love the nursery magic. I love the ending. It was originally published in 1922. The story and illustrations in this edition are original. This is a beautiful edition of the book. One of the best I've seen.
The Velveteen Rabbit was published several years before A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner. Chances are if you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other.
Do you have a favorite toy-come-to-life fantasy? show less
Premise/plot: Do you know what it is to be real? One little Christmas bunny will learn this and plenty of other life lessons in Margery Williams' classic tale The Velveteen Rabbit.
The Velveteen Rabbit opens with a young boy receiving a rabbit for show more a Christmas present. All is lovely for the rabbit that first day. But the toy is quickly forgotten. He becomes one toy of many, many, many toys. He's not exactly special to the boy or the other toys. In fact, I'd say the other toys bully him a bit. All except for the Skin Horse, the oldest toy in the nursery. It is this horse that tells the Rabbit all about being real, what it takes to be real, what it feels like, how it changes you, etc.
"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, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen 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." "I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always." (5-8)
My thoughts: The Velveteen Rabbit is one of my favorite Christmas books. I love the nursery magic. I love the ending. It was originally published in 1922. The story and illustrations in this edition are original. This is a beautiful edition of the book. One of the best I've seen.
The Velveteen Rabbit was published several years before A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner. Chances are if you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other.
Do you have a favorite toy-come-to-life fantasy? show less
Yet another classic that I recently discovered has slipped past me (or at least, if I ever read it as a child, I have no recollection), Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit is a beautiful book and one that I'm glad to have stumbled across as an adult rather than as a child. It all happened because of a quote:
He said,"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 show more 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."
This quote came across my Facebook feed the other day, and in discussing the book with a couple of friends, it then occurred to me that I don't think I had ever read it, so bought a copy that weekend. This book resonated far better with my adult self than I think it ever could have as a child, which speaks volumes for the magic of this slim little volume. A happy addition to my library. show less
He said,"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 show more 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."
This quote came across my Facebook feed the other day, and in discussing the book with a couple of friends, it then occurred to me that I don't think I had ever read it, so bought a copy that weekend. This book resonated far better with my adult self than I think it ever could have as a child, which speaks volumes for the magic of this slim little volume. A happy addition to my library. show less
Oh I wish I'd read this treasure when I was a girl, so I could emulate Miss Gay rather than the more respectable townsfolk.
I suppose nowadays we have the likes of [a:Leo Lionni|32804|Leo Lionni|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1212699342p2/32804.jpg] to teach us the value of creativity and joy, but Margery Williams Bianco predated even the Beatniks, even further the Hippies, by half a century. I have no idea why this isn't universally beloved. Seriously, I'd have loved it as a child, and do show more now.
Thank you Elko library for not culling it and for being willing to loan it to Carson City! Now I've got to try to track down a copy to be ready to share with my (still hypothetical) grandchildren. show less
I suppose nowadays we have the likes of [a:Leo Lionni|32804|Leo Lionni|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1212699342p2/32804.jpg] to teach us the value of creativity and joy, but Margery Williams Bianco predated even the Beatniks, even further the Hippies, by half a century. I have no idea why this isn't universally beloved. Seriously, I'd have loved it as a child, and do show more now.
Thank you Elko library for not culling it and for being willing to loan it to Carson City! Now I've got to try to track down a copy to be ready to share with my (still hypothetical) grandchildren. show less
Lists
Newbery Adjacent (4)
Favourite Books (1)
Books About Boys (1)
Christmas Books (1)
Reading Rainbow (2)
Ambleside Books (2)
Best Young Adult (1)
Sonlight Books (1)
4th Grade Books (1)
1920s (1)
Female Author (1)
Out of Copyright (1)
Five star books (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 95
- Also by
- 31
- Members
- 19,404
- Popularity
- #1,124
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 257
- ISBNs
- 471
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 9
