Watership Down by Richard Adams

Review by: Joyce Griffith Butler at Griffbutler@concordnc.com

On the surface, Richard Adams' Watership Down appears to be a children's story about rabbits. This 478 page book (Avon edition) is a wonderful tale of a family of rabbits who decide to move from their present warren of Sandleford to Watership Down Warren. However, if the reader peers beneath the surface of the rabbit story, he/she will quickly see that, in truth, Watership Down is a literary work rich in social, political and anthropological implications that could and do apply to any human society. The rabbits are involved, just as is man, in a struggle for ideals, dignity, and freedom.

So curl up with this book and read it the first time for the story of the rabbits. Read it to your children. I invite you to go with them on their journey from Sandleford to Watership Down; meet the doe from Nuthanger Farm; meet Fiver who possesses skills of a visonary; cross the river with the rabibits on their way to Efrafa; and hop around with Hazel who is sure to win your heart. In a year or two (maybe next month!), return to Watership Down and read it for the social commentary that it also is. Whatever approach you take with Watership Down, it is sure to be one book that will touch your heart and one that you will carry with you always.