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Watership Down (Scribner Classics) Hardcover – Illustrated, October 23, 2012

by Richard Adams (Author), Aldo Galli (Illustrator)

1,879 customer reviews

Book 1 of 2 in the Watership Down Series

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Discover—or revisit—the enchanting world of the Sandleford Warren rabbits in this first-ever illustrated edition of a celebrated modern classic.

A phenomenal worldwide bestseller for almost forty years, Richard Adams’s Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time. Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival follows a band of very special rabbits on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

A book that speaks to our society as vividly as it did nearly half a century ago, this keepsake Scribner Classic edition showcases more than twenty sumptuous, evocative tip-in paintings from Aldo Galli, an illustrator chosen by Richard Adams himself.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

To capture the feeling of the verdant English landscape in Richard Adams's "Watership Down" (Atheneum, 496 pages, $29.99), first published in 1972, Aldo Galli painted in the real locations described in the story. In his finely wrought illustrations, the rabbits Hazel and Pipkin crouch beside the real Nuthanger Farm and Hazel, Bigwig and Fiver make their way across the real Hampshire downs. Mr. Galli brings a sense of intensified realism to his depictions in this 40th anniversary edition. Foliage is luxuriantly, impossibly green, and the edges of things—the feathers of birds, the fluff of dandelions—look as sharp as if they were cut from glass. As a gift, this edition would suit anyone over the age of 10, including adults. (The Wall Street Journal)

About the Author

Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for Children's Literature, Richard Adams was a British novelist best known for Watership Down, Shardik, and The Plague Dogs.

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Product details

Age Range: 10 and up
Grade Level: 5 - 6
Series: Scribner Classics
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Reissue edition (October 23, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1442444053
ISBN-13: 978-1442444058
Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.7 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
Average Customer Review: 1,879 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #271 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Rabbits
- #881 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Classics
- #1722 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age

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Solari

The best book from the animal's point of view

April 1, 2016

Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase

Richard Adams used to make up stories about little bunnies for his daughters during long car rides in the English country. One day, infuriated at a lousy children’s book he bought, he considered: “I can do better than that”. The result is one of England’s most beloved young reader’s novels.

The story of Watership Down, edited originally in 1972, starts when the rabbit Fiver begins to have visions showing a great catastrophe destroying his colony. “The field is full of blood”, he says. This trope is based on Cassandra’s myth, and much like the Greek prophetess, the little bunny’s visions are ignored by the leaders and only a small group decides to escape in search of a better place.

When my girlfriend asks her English friends about Watership Down their expression shows love and fear at the same time. Love because the animal characters actions and personalities are built in a very endearing way by the author. Fear because the little furry creature’s deaths are many and bloody. Like all good children’s literature, Watership Down does not insult the young reader’s intelligence with simplified messages.

The bunnies have anthropomorphic thoughts and can speak, but the book was built around real rabbit’s behavior, their organization, their ways of feeding, etc. It’s interesting how the author imagined how it would be a society of hunted creatures, instead of hunters like us. They are in a constant state of fear, always alert to any weird sound or noise.

Adams also created a sort bunny speak, called “Lapine”, that even without the depth of other literary created languages like those made by Tolkien, has consistent prefixes and endings to convey and exotic but realistic tone. The rabbits also have a rich mythology with several stories intertwined.

There is the solar god Fritz, the black rabbit Inlé (bringer of death), the primordial rabbit El-ahraiah and his many tales deceiving dogs or stealthily attacking gardens. The characters are very well constructed. Fiver is the prophet flirting with madness, Hazel the leader, Bigwig the warrior, Blackberry is pretty much the scientist, Dandelion is the bard, and entertains his friend with his tales. The book has a curious flavor, like a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearean epic only with bunnies.

One of the best books I have ever read. The ambience makes the reader really imagine how life is a few centimeters from the ground and think about how frail life is. And also about the number of stories that are hidden everywhere.

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Petra DeVerona

Great Story: NOT For Younger Children

February 7, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Let me start with a word of warning: this is NOT a book I'd recommend for young children. The story is a good one, but there is violence, death, destruction, suspense, and a few other things that might not be suitable for a younger audience. Otherwise, I recommend this book highly. It is an excellent story that older children and adults can enjoy. Don't let the fact that the characters are animals fool you. This story is not only a cracking good tale, but it is an excellent study in character, command/leadership, and group dynamics. It also provides some fascinating possibilities of how animals might view the world.

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Steven J Hernandez

A very human story...

January 14, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The Bible often equates people to sheep, and is full of stories and legends, which convey some wisdom or truth. Adams book is similar. It is a story about rabbits,true but it is also clearly a great model for the way humans express fear and faith in the stressful circumstances of life. Most notable are the great lapine legends and the language used to express those stories and ideas and motivate the characters. We do this as humans, finding comfort and courage in such stories.

The basic ideals of a free society are found in this book. This great assumption that rabbits/people are created by a divine creator and guided by said creator and given the parameters of free will; and that within those parameters we choose virtuous or ignoble paths for ourselves is implicit and pervasive throughout.

Every young adult should be required to read this book in the compulsory school system, if you want them to understand some basic principals of western, free civilizations, from whence spring the greatest innovations, aspirations, and hopes of mankind. If you read this story and don't feel for these rabbits as if they were people you knew, well then you have surely missed something.

It is a great story of hope, life, faith, inner strength and deep convictions. Adams did his research well to show an accurate portrait of the habits of rabbits, but also captured the nature of man equally well. This book has many rich layers of meaning, and the descriptions of the countryside are vivid. This is a great book also for anyone aspiring to write quality fiction.

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The Cool Guy

Life on the Down

October 11, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is sooo good. I've read it several times, most recently aloud to my two boys. It took us nearly a year to finish it, reading a chapter a week or so. The end is really good but so sad. Honestly, I was choking up a little bit, reading it to my kids. Had to focus hard to power through and keep my voice steady, so they wouldn't see their dad cry! (Haha) Its a timeless classic. Highly recommended!

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