The Story of a Candy Rabbit

In Short

Laura Lee Hope's 1920 juvenile tale follows a pink-eyed Candy Rabbit who comes alive when humans are not looking. Created as an Easter novelty, he is purchased for a little girl named Madeline, only to undergo a series of precarious misadventures. He foils a hungry house cat, gets borne aloft on a kite's tail, faces the threat of melting near a warm stove, suffers kidnapping by an organ grinder's companion, and plunges into a full bathtub. The book endures for its gentle charm, imaginative toy-house secret life, and cozy domestic heroism.

The Story

The narrative opens on an Easter novelty counter in a department store, where a Candy Rabbit with pink glass eyes awakens and wonders if he has arrived in Fairyland. Surrounded by glass-windowed eggs, clockwork hares, and sugar chicks, he quickly learns from a mechanical Fuzzy Rabbit that he is merely a holiday gift waiting to be sold. When a customer selects him, he slips and nearly shatters on the floor, saved only by a soft rubber ball that bounces him into a clerk's hands. Wrapped carefully in tissue and excelsior, he is carried away to his new home.

Madeline's parents hide the Candy Rabbit behind the piano on Easter Eve alongside decorative egg baskets. On Easter morning, Madeline and her brother Herbert gleefully search the house, and Madeline claims the pink-eyed bunny as her special gift. The Rabbit quickly discovers that Madeline's playroom contains other sentient playthings, including a Sawdust Doll belonging to a visiting friend named Dorothy. Whenever adult or child eyes are turned away, the toys converse, comparing notes on their past lives in the toy store.

Danger strikes when the family cat, Tom, leaps onto a table to catch Madeline's pet goldfish. To save the fish, the Candy Rabbit deliberately topples against the glass bowl. His hard sugar ears strike the glass with a sharp bell-like tinkle, alerting the little girls, who chase the cat away. Seeking revenge, the cat later sneaks back, seizes the Candy Rabbit by his neck ribbon, carries him out an open window, and drops him into the tall grass of a vacant lot.

Stranded in the meadow, the Rabbit fears he will melt in the rain. Instead, he is found by Madeline's brother and his friends. Seeking a balancing weight for their kite, the boys tie the Rabbit to the tail of the kite, sending him soaring high into the sky before reeling him down safety into Madeline's waiting apron.

Back indoors, further mishaps await. Left on a kitchen shelf near a hot stove, the Bunny begins to soften until Madeline rescues him, leaving him with one permanently drooped ear. Later, a visiting organ grinder's young companion, Rosa, mistaking the Rabbit for an abandoned item on the porch, slipped him into her pocket. The Rabbit spends a night in the organ grinder's tenement before being placed in a peddler's basket, where Madeline spots him the next day and reclaims him.

Returned to his mistress, the Rabbit survives a plunge into the bathtub when a pulled towel drags him from a glass shelf. Dried out on the window sill, a sudden gust of wind knocks him out the second-story window, but he lands unharmed in a wheelbarrow filled with fresh grass clippings. Finally, at a children's party, a mischievous boy named Tom steals the Rabbit to stuff into his overcrowded pocket alongside nails and string, but Tom's mother discovers the theft and returns the toy. Safe at last on a quiet closet shelf, the Candy Rabbit settles down to swap adventure stories with a porcelain match-safe cat.

How It Unfolds

Awakening on the counter The Candy Rabbit rubs his pink glass eyes and discovers he is sitting on an Easter novelty counter surrounded by decorated sugar eggs, clockwork rabbits, and nearby toys from the main shop.

The fall and the rescue While being purchased by a customer, the Rabbit slips from the clerk's hands, but a soft rubber ball rolling beneath him breaks his fall and allows the clerk to catch him safely.

Arrival at Madeline's home Hidden behind the piano on Easter Eve, the Rabbit is discovered on Easter morning by Madeline, who adopts him immediately and introduces him to her playroom.

Foiling the bad cat When Tom the cat attempts to snatch a goldfish from the parlor bowl, the Rabbit leans against the glass, producing a loud ringing chime that alerts the children and drives the predator off.

A flight on a kite In revenge, the cat carries the Rabbit out to a grassy lot and abandons him; there, neighborhood boys find the toy and tie him to the tail of a high-flying kite.

Near the kitchen stove After returning home, the Rabbit is left on a shelf near a hot stove, causing one of his sugar ears to melt and twist permanently to the side.

Kidnapped by the organ girl A little girl accompanying a street organ grinder picks up the Rabbit from the porch; she takes him home in her pocket, where he remains until her peddler uncle unwittingly displays him in his basket.

The bathtub plunge and wheelbarrow landing After Madeline reclaims her toy, she accidentally knocks him into a tub of water; while drying on the sill, a gust of wind blows him out the window into a wheelbarrow of fresh lawn clippings.

Pocketed at the party A naughty boy named Tom steals the Rabbit from a play party and jams him into a pocket full of junk, but Tom's mother finds the toy and restores him to Madeline.

The People

• The Candy Rabbit wants to keep his sugar frame intact while being a good companion to his owner. He faces constant structural threats—falling, melting, soaking, and animal attacks—and ends up with a grass stain and a twisted ear, yet remains cheerful and resilient.
• Madeline wants to cherish her Easter presents and keep her toys safe. She faces the sudden disappearances and near-accidents of her favorite bunny, growing increasingly attentive and defensive of her playthings as she rescues him from heat, water, and loss.
• Tom the Cat wants a goldfish dinner and seeks revenge on anyone who interferes. Thwarted by the Rabbit's quick ringing of the fishbowl, he acts as the primary antagonist, dropping the toy in the meadow to get him out of the way.
• Rosa wants a pretty toy of her own to love. Poor and wandering the streets with her organ-grinder relative, she takes the Rabbit from a porch under the mistaken belief that he has been discarded, surrendering him without malice when his real owner is identified.
• Tom (the boy) wants extra playthings to match the other children at the party. Driven by envious impulse, he pockets the Rabbit without permission, but is confronted by his mother and forced to apologize.
• The Sawdust Doll wants to hear news of the wider toy world and support her fellow playthings. She acts as a comforting companion to the Rabbit whenever the children leave the room.

In Its Own Voice

"No, I am not asleep! I am not dreaming," said the Candy Rabbit, speaking to himself in a low voice. "I am wide awake, but what strange things I see! I wonder what it all means!"

Upon first waking on the Easter display counter, the glass-eyed rabbit tries to make sense of the sparkling, windowed sugar eggs and mechanical novelties surrounding him.

"I will," said Mother, and that is where the Candy Rabbit was hidden.

Madeline's mother places the newly purchased rabbit behind the piano on Easter Eve so the children can experience the joy of hunting for their holiday treats.

"Dear me!" thought the poor Candy Rabbit, "I wonder what will happen to me. I must try to get out of here. I can hop, as long as no human eyes see me."

Abandoned in the tall grass by the vengeful cat, the Rabbit tries to leverage the fundamental secret rule of toy existence in order to save himself.

What It's Really About

At its core, the narrative explores the precariousness of fragile things in a heavy, moving world. The Candy Rabbit is uniquely vulnerable: unlike wooden or tin playthings, he is made of edible sugar that melts near heat, dissolves in water, and shatters upon hard surfaces. His journey tests how a soft, static object survives accidental drops, animal malice, and human carelessness. The story also examines the hidden agency of the helpless. By using his own body to strike a glass bowl, the Rabbit exerts control over his environment to protect others, proving that even a quiet toy can act bravely within the strict boundaries of his low-stakes, secret life.

Why Read It Today

The Story of a Candy Rabbit appeals to readers who appreciate classic, gentle children's literature with a nostalgic, early twentieth-century domestic backdrop. It offers a cozy, imaginative look into the secret world of playthings, reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's toy tales or Margery Williams's The Velveteen Rabbit, though written with a lighter, lighter-hearted touch suited for early readers.

The prose moves briskly, keeping sentence structures straightforward and episodic. Readers should note that the story reflects the era's simple, highly repetitive formula for juvenile series fiction, where minor perils are introduced and resolved within short chapters. There are slight period artifacts in how characters interact—such as the casual depiction of street peddlers and organ grinders—but the narrative remains free of heavy dialect or harsh period attitudes.

What lingers after reading is the quiet charm of its domestic geography. Ordinary household items—a goldfish bowl, a bathroom towel rack, a hot kitchen stove, a garden wheelbarrow—become dramatic landscape features through the eyes of a three-inch sugar bunny trying to survive the afternoon.