From Beatrix Potter to Redwall, Wind in the Willows and Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge, among others, the British appear to be the most accomplished experts on writing fictional accounts of rodents.

Watership Down is in that category, but at 400+ pages, it's not something most children are likely to pick up. It's the story of a journey, and of survival, with plenty of heart and endearing characters.

The story follows an intrepid band of rabbits who leave their home after Fiver, an eccentric (but accurate) rabbit foretells disaster to their current warren. On the way, they encounter many obstacles and set-backs, but finally arrive at Watership Down, which they decide to make their new home. Once there, however, they realize they won't last long as a colony without females, and thus begins a new phase of adventure as they decide they must find a way to infiltrate the other warren in the area -- the one that is run under the iron paw of the ruthless General Woundwort.

While the rabbits in this story are anthropomorphized to a point, as in they do speak to each other, Richard Adams did not simply stick human personalities onto rabbits. I get the impression that he has spent an awful lot of time observing and pondering these creatures, and so the characters he created are relatable and yet feel more rabbity than human. He gives them their own folk heroes and folk tales, and you have to wonder whether rabbits really are like this if you could just speak their language.

Scrounged From: PaperbackSwap.com

Format: Paperback
Author: Richard Adams
Pages: 476
Content Advisory: Lots of peril, and several scenes of fighting and other violence, including some descriptions of injury and death. 

More Reviews at Amazon