Watership Down

Watership Down by Richard Adams 
reviewed by Sarah 

A small gang of rabbits, Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Dandelion, Silver, Buckthorn, Holly, Strawberry, and a few others escape their original warren before the humans come to kill them and steal their land. Fiver, Hazel's younger brother, sees this all coming and he and other rabbits that believe in Fiver flee in search of a new warren. These rabbits are faced with many dangers and temptations along the way and will have to fight for their new home.

This classic personifies the rabbits to make them more human, therefore making reading a book about rabbits finding a new home a little more interesting. These rabbits have their own language, poetry, mythology, and other cultural aspects. Personally I never could really enjoy this book, but many others have. If you are the kind of person that could sit down and read a book about rabbits, heroic journeys and rabbit mythology and battle without being forced against your own will to read it for school, you may enjoy this book.

Interview with the author (at age 92) and the illustrator of a recent edition.

An earlier review of Watership Down written by Takoma Park student "...the absolute worst book I've ever read in my life..."

Librarian's Note: Some of us like it, even those who don't might enjoy Adams' other books such as Traveler and Plague Dogs. The author's own favorite is Shardik. Although he began writing by telling stories to his daughters, his books are not children's literature.

We have the Blackstone audio recording of Watership Down available on CD at the library, and as streaming audio for your pad or phone at Audiobookcloud.