Roaring trolls, poking out eyes, smashing bones, a perfect story for our little ones? Of course, children's tales, like childhood, can also be sweet, sad and very profound as my mom recently pointed out with this quote from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams:

"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."

Illustration by Donna Green