 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Watership Down
- By Richard Adams
- Genre: Animals
Common Sense Media says
Thinking person's bunny story will appeal to kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Richard Adams's larger-than-life story is compelling and full of high adventure, and his characters are vividly drawn and winning. Experienced fantasy fans cheer the heroes on.
What's the story?
A band of young males, relegated to the fringes of society, set out to find a place where they can live free and proud. Never mind that the characters in this long and complex but thrilling epic are rabbits--Beatrix Potter, this isn't. Charismatic characters, nail-biting action, and an engrossing plot combine to produce a classic.
When Hazel's clairvoyant brother, Fiver, predicts a catastrophe, Hazel gathers other young rabbits willing to flee to establish a new warren of their own. But few of them have been far from home, and their journey is perilous: They're attacked by rats in a barn, must cross a creek, and are lulled into a false sense of security in a warren whose rabbits turn out to be fed--and harvested--by a farmer.
With every incident, however, the value of each individual becomes clear to the others, and they coalesce into a unified band. When they at last reach their objective, a desolate hill called Watership Down, they feel they have found, and earned, a home.
But then their search for mates to help populate their warren leads to an encounter with a repressive rabbit society, and a gripping undercover plot that culminates in a harrowing stand against the ferocious dictator, General Woundwort.
Is it any good?
WATERSHIP DOWN was written for adults, but adolescents often find it more irresistible than their elders do. Although the rabbit characters have a language and a culture, and they converse and interact just as humans do, these are not cap-and-waistcoat picture-book bunnies, but fully realized characters whose conflicts and triumphs keep readers engrossed.
This is primarily an adventure novel, but one for thinking people. Readers are expected to engage their brains, even for the suspenseful action sequences. Social allegory pops up regularly, from the restlessness of the warren's disenfranchised younger bucks to the fatalism and repression in two other rabbit communities, whose members have given up freedom for an illusion of security. Author Richard Adams also conveys a palpable love of nature. He knows the story's countryside setting intimately, and much of his narrative contains descriptions of the landscape and references to specific plant species.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about why this novel, which was intended for adults, was peopled with the unlikiest of main characters -- rabbits.
When humans do pop up in the story, what is their role?
In what ways
can this seemingly straightforward "bunny story" be seen as an allegory
for the perils of human civilization?
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AGE
BAD
This book is an absolute atrocity. Please do NOT read. Richard Adams is in need of a straight jacket and a padded room. If is basically a 500 page story book about rabbits, it is a nasty read. If you value your sanity, just put it down
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AGE
Fantastic read. Read it twice, and my brother has just picked it up, saying he loves it. A must have.
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AGE
I was hooked!!
A must read for everyone!!! It is well written, such as the descriptions of the various warrens and the like. However, one of the rabbits (Bigwig) is a very warrior-like rabbit, sometimes instigating violent situations. Also, one of the warrens is baited by a farmer and the other rabbits lie to the Watership Down rabbits. There is mention of females bearing young and being 'in season', and seem to be thought of as only useful for digging burrows and bearing young.
Pushing all this aside, this is a book with much character developement, a good plot, and leaves the reader begging for more.
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AGE
Ugh. I hated this book. It was really boring, especially in the beginning. The battling rabbits were kind of disturbing. Don't read this, unless you want to be bored.
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AGE
I absolutely LOVE this book
I read it at a very young age, it was the longest book I had ever read at the time. I didn't quite comprehend it, but I fell in love with it. Years later, I read it again, and again, and again...Very recommendable. Everyone who likes literature should read it. The younger children won't understand it, which is what happened to me, and it does have lots of violence in it. This is the book that hooked me on animal fantasy for several years. But no other books I read could match up to this one, unless you're talking about The Plague Dogs. Whole different story. I read a review on Amazon* which had a mother complaining because it had no female rabbits and the few that were there were refered to as "does"...Ha ha ha...It's not like the rabbits are going to go around saying "Oh, we need ourselves some girl rabbits. Yeah, some girl rabbits. Some girlfriends, you guys." Heehee. No, seriously, this book can bring up a couple of questions with the younger children, but to not like it because the main characters are mostly male...?
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AGE
This is a really bad book!
For anyone who doesn't like rabbits, stay away from this book! It's difficult to understand, the characters are pathetic, and it's generally boring. Besides, rabbits are very bad role models. They constantly run from everything that scares them, their language is not at all easy to follow, and they generally have a pathetic existence.
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AGE
BOOOORRRRIINNNGGGG!!!!!!! and BBBBBAAAADDD!!!
Hated it. It was so boring i finished it in two months and i am a fast reader. I don't get the point and message. Books are supposed to give you a good message allthis was about was danger felling bunnies. Not good for kids teens or adults unless you never want to read a book again. The most horrible book ever. Please take my word and dont read. If you want to read a good book with aa message just limit out this book no message and bunnies dont set good romodels only if you want to eat carrots the rest of your life. Sorry i hated this boring book. I give it 1 star because i cant put none. Thanks please agrree and listen if you havent read it yet.!!!!!!!!!
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AGE
~Watership Down~
I started reading this book after I somehow "stumbled" on the movie, and after watching it, I thought I'd give the book a try. It was much better than the movie including the character's perspectives and problems the Watership Downers encountered.
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| Author: | Richard Adams |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Animals |
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Children's Books |
| Publication date: | January 1, 1972 |
| Number of pages: | 494 |
| Paperback price: | $7.99 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 12 - 17 |
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