*Watership Down by Richard Adams

Richard Adams’ classic tale employs noble themes of vision, courage, and sacrifice among some of the most humble and ordinary of animals in their quest for a home.

*Watership Down: a Novel by Richard Adams. Scribner, 2005 (reprint). 476 pages.

Reading Level: Teens, Ages 12-15

Recommended For: Ages 12 and up

The scene is shocking: a peaceful meadow, once green with rolling hills, now churned up with mud and covered with blood and mangled fur. Is it a dream, or a vision of things to come? 

Fiver, the runt of his rabbit clan, is known as a dreamer. The larger rabbits don’t take him very seriously, but Hazel, Fiver’s older brother, can’t shake his sense of foreboding–both from the dream itself and from its effect on the smaller rabbit. Hazel never thought of himself as a leader, or warrior, or anything out of the ordinary, but if Fiver’s dream is some kind of portent, he will have to act. They must leave Sandelford Warren, the only home they’ve ever known: he and Fiver and as many of their warren-mates as they can persuade.

The Quest for Home

Thus begins a classic adventure. Instead of the standard quest story, where the hero leaves home, accomplishes his goal, and returns, home is the quest. The rabbits can’t return to Sandelford—as they learn in time, it was plowed up by developers at a horrible cost to their friends who stayed behind. They can only go forward: Hazel and Fiver, clever Blackberry, gruff warrior Bigwig and his comrade Silver, and a handful of others. As they encounter obvious dangers and subtle snares (plus one literal snare), Hazel emerges as a true leader: brave and resourceful, but also generous, astute, and self-effacing. 

The little band finds a suitable location in a beech grove and proceed to dig themselves a burrow. But Hazel realizes they must multiply or die, and for that they need females. This opens the second great challenge of the story, and its greatest antagonist. For finding a home is not enough; keeping and defending it is an even greater calling.

A Rabbity World

One of the most striking features of Watership Down is world-building: though the characters are anthropomorphized, the author imagines a language for them, as well as mathematical concepts, psychological responses, and religion. Their god is the sun (Lord Frith) and they even have a mediator of sorts: El-harereh, a trickster figure whose adventures regale the warren on long winter nights. Personalities are distinct, as I suspect they are in the actual animal world, but the virtues and emotions are very human. In this way, readers can relate to these bunnies and become just as involved in their tragedies and triumphs as we would for human characters.

The author never claimed any religious significance for his story, but the themes of loyalty, courage, perseverance, self-sacrifice and ultimate victory fall within a Christian worldview. These characters occupy a small space, but it’s big enough to live with integrity and wonder. And the same is true for each one of us.

Considerations:

• Violence: Life-or-death struggles involve slashing and blood-letting, and some of the battle scenes, as well as the fate of Sandleford Warren, may be too intense for younger readers.

Overall Rating: 4.75 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 4.5 out of 5
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 5 out of 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• A Review: Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies (think of this as Watership Down with deer…)
• A Resource: Watership Down is one of our teen “anchor” books for Tails and Trails (our 2022 Summer Reading Challenge!)
• A Resource: Animal Stories Book List (for all ages!)

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