I was looking at my bookshelf. It’s hard to NOT look at my bookshelf, as it’s directly opposite my desk! But I realized I have a lot of animal books on there. If you are an animal lover (or know someone who is) you might want to check out Richard Adams’ Watership Down.
Watership Down is an actual place. (I didn’t know that!) It’s a hill in the north of Hampshire, England.
Watership Down was first published in 1972 and has never since been out of print. Apparently it’s Penguin Books’ best selling novel. That’s pretty impressive, considering how many books are published each year. What’s even more impressive — at least to me as a writer — is that Watership Down was rejected by thirteen different publishers before finding a home at Penguin. Persistence, my writer friends! Persistence!
The story of Watership Down is a heroic fantasy quest type story, based on stories that Adams told to his children. A group of wild rabbits leave their warren in search of a new home after a prophetic vision foretells the destruction of their old home. The wandering rabbits find a new home, only to have a new problem — there are no doe rabbits. There’s lots of adventure here, but the book might be a little scary for young kids.
One of the things I love about this book is that the rabbits have their own language, culture, and mythology. Many editions of the book include a Lapine glossary at the end, so you can brush up on your rabbit-speak.
Watership Down was turned into an animated film and apparently also spawned a television series. But before you turn on the tube, you might want to check out the book! Adams also published a sequel of sorts, Tales from Watership Down. This book is a collection of short stories telling tales from the rabbit mythology and new stories about our favorite rabbit heroes.