The best story in the collection is the title story, a tale both humorous and poignant about real love between child and toy, and about the repercussions of that love down through the generations.

For such a short story it has surprising complexity: The prince, though amusingly spoiled, is also selflessly loving and kind. It will make any child long for a rocking horse, and any adult long to give it, though the pictures of it are so magnificent that not just any rocking horse will do.

The weakest story, surprisingly, is the one from E. Nesbit, a novelist of justified renown. But "The Town in the Library" is confusing and disjointed, and doesn't seem to go anywhere.

The rest are very good. "Memoirs of a London Doll," the first chapter of a nineteenth-century novel, may well send readers scrambling to find a used copy of this out-of-print book, and "Rag Bag" gives old, worn-out dolls their due.

Angela Barrett's delicate illustrations are quite lovely, but many are reproduced as miniatures, which makes the details hard to make out. Even those that are given a page of their own have immense white borders, shrinking the size of the picture.

For another book of stories about toys, try The Kingfisher Book of Toy Stories. Toys come to life in many novels as well, such as The Indian in the Cupboard, Davin, The Castle in the Attic, and Finding Walter.