A Real Book

β€œWhat is REAL?” asked the Rabbit. β€œDoes it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

β€œDoes it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, β€œor bit by bit?”

It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. β€œYou become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept . . .Β 

You may recognize these words lifted from Margery Williams Bianco’s The Velveteen Rabbit.

Published in 1922, the book is an enduring story, the tale of a stuffed rabbit’s desire to become real through the love of his owner.

 

Most readers aren’t aware of the author’s daughter, Pamela Bianco, a child prodigy, whose fame as an artist once eclipsed that of her mother, the writer. In The Velveteen Daughter, a work of historical fiction, the author Laurel Davis HuberΒ fashions a story of complex family dynamics told in alternating chapters through the voices of both mother Margery and daughter Pamela.

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A Real Title

If you’ve read my posts recently, you are aware of my struggle for a memoir title. I even blogged about it here:Β Memoir Progress Peaks and Valleys. A title has evolved, just as the book has, and like Huber’s book, it contains the word β€œdaughter.”

Criteria for my title choice:

  • Does the title reflect what the story is about?
  • Are the title and subtitle broad enough to encompass the entire story?

 

Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl

Β (Runner Up) Β Β Mennonite Daughter: A Plain Girl Finds Love

 

 

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Did your title appear to you in a flash, or evolve slowly over time?

Does all or part of your title appear somewhere in your story?

Have you ever chosen to read a book because of its title?