A childhood belief about toys

When I was little, I was deathly afraid of the Velveteen Rabbit for some reason. My grandma had gotten me one of those book-and-tape sets of the story for my birthday, and even though I loved it and listened to it all day long, by the time I went to bed I had completely changed my mind. I somehow became convinced that the book had some kind of magic power that would make my stuffed animals come to life like the Velveteen Rabbit, and that the animals would be mean and try to "get" me while I was asleep. I cried for like twenty minutes while my mom tried to calm me down, but I would not be consoled until she promised to get rid of the book the next morning, because of course I would be safe as long as it wasn't in the house.

A few years later, my parents gave me a Velveteen Rabbit videotape for Easter, and by then I was okay with it. Guess maybe I just wasn't ready for it that first time!