An excellent metaphor for both spring and Easter, this lovely tale of transformation and rebirth is told in a gentle, poetic language. Based on Margery Williams's award-winning storybook of the same name, this collaborative recording is pleasantly soothing. George Winston's tinkly, twinkly piano conjures up enchanted seasons, beginning with the opening Christmas scene. Here, the Boy receives the Velveteen Rabbit as a gift. The Rabbit, narrated by Meryl Streep in a thick, cottony, cozy British accent, is just as he should be: "fat and bunchy" with a velveteen spotted coat and ears "lined with pink satin." As the story unfolds, the Rabbit is educated in the nursery by the Skin Horse on how a plaything "becomes real" through being thoroughly loved by a child. Seasons go by, and inevitably the Boy abandons the Rabbit, though not before the Rabbit "becomes real," at which point the nursery magic Fairy ushers him into a new world. --Paige La Grone