Watership Down
Hazel an “outskirter” rabbit from Sandford Warren, and a small band of rabbits leave their home warren to escape the destructive dangers foreseen by another rabbit, Fiver. On the way to start a new warren they meet many dangers: rats, stoats, other Elil and finally Efrafa.
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
(The four pictures) Illustrated by David Parkins
©1972
ISBN 978-0-141-38222-7
Type of book: Hardcover, 474 pages
Reading Level: 10 and up
Awards: Carnegie Medal, 1972
Negative Elements
The rabbits have a “god” called “Frith”. There is no bowing down and worshiping “Frith” But they do tell storys about how he created the earth. The rabbits also take the name of their “god” in vain. There is mild bad language but it is in Lapine (rabbit language) and does not need to translated. There is fighting and some of the rabbits get hurt or wounded. Also rabbit tragedies happen where rabbits get shot at and some rabbits get snatched by predators. I found though, that nothing was described in too much detail. Fiver has visions.
Positive Elements
The rabbits are always loyal even in the most dangerous situations. One of the rabbit tries to be cheerful no matter how bad the situation. Some of them risk their lives to save other rabbits even when it’s not necessary. They try to be peaceful and fight only if necessary. The rabbits always think their plans through very well and come up with some wonderful plans.
Our Take
I love this book! It is one of my very favourites. I think the good points out weigh the not-so-good. The heroes in the the story have character traits worth copying.
Rating
Buy it!
Learning Opportunities
This novel would make an interesting study on how government affects society. There are also many formal novel and unit studies available for this book. We found one online that looked interesting here. Check google for ones you can purchase.
About the Author
Richard Adams was born in 1920 in Newbury. He served in the British Army during World War II and then went on to University, where he recieved a master’s degree in Arts. After university, he took several positions in the British Civil service. It was during this time that he told stories to his two daughters about a group of rabbits living in the countryside of Newbury. The girls insisted he write the stories in novel form and Watership Down was born. After 13 rejections from publishers, the book was finally published in 1972. The novel went on to earn him the Carnegie Medal. Other books followed, including a sequel, Tales from Watership Down, written in 1996, but none have been as successful as his first, which has sold 50 million copies worldwide. He now lives, with his wife of fifty years, Elizabeth, near Newbury, where the story was set.
Where you Can Buy It:
Sonlight
US Amazon
Reviewed by LittlePage1 (12)
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Lassie Come-Home
Lassie is a tri-colour Collie that every man in the village of Greenall Bridge, England says is the “best dog anybody could lay eyes on.” Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight is the exciting story of a dog who is unwillingly (by owner and dog) sold to the Duke of Rudling, moved to Scotland, escapes, and tries to find her way home.
The Light at Tern Rock
A young boy, Ronnie, and his Aunt Martha agree to look after a lighthouse in early December, but as Christmas approaches and the keeper does not return, Ronnie begins to worry that they will not be able to spend their Christmas at home.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Two children decide to runaway from home and hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Along the way they try to discover the truth about a mysterious piece of art.
The Slave Dancer
Thirteen year old Jessie Bollier is kidnapped and forced to work on a slave trader heading to Africa for a shipment of slaves to be delivered to Cuba. Surrounded by men of questionable character, he learns lessons about the cruelty of men and the evilness of the world, and yet still manages to withstand the hatred that surrounds him.
The Road to Damietta
This is the story of a young noblewoman who believes she is in love with Francis Bernardone, who goes on to become the humble monk Francis of Assisi. In her wildly prideful passion, she pursues him, is sent to a convent, and then escapes to follow Assisi to Damietta, Egypt during the Fifth Crusade. The books paint a vivid picture of twelfth century Italy and the horror of the Crusades.
The Conspiracy of the Insignificant
I am seriously desiring this yet-unpublished book, The New Conspirators by Tom Sine.
In a preview that makes me scream for more, Roger Thoman quotes from the book and then goes on to add his own thoughts
That we would be willing to be the unseen, unheralded ambassadors who heroically refuse to walk in the ways of this world for the sake of demonstrating a love that throws money-changers out of temples, loves sinners, and forgives those who nail us to a cross.
Maybe, the moment we are no longer underground (unseen) nor insurgent (counter-cultural), we are no longer really the church.
Maybe, the moment “our movement” is recognized, written about, or even blogged about, it no longer has the characteristics of the true church.
Maybe, the moment we receive an accolade or an applause for what we are doing, it is time to look to see if the recognition has come because we have begun to agree more with our culture than the radical kingdom that Jesus preached and demonstrated.
I’ve spent so much of my life wanting to be a big fish in little ponds. Now I just want to be a little fish. I’m finally starting to see that the accolades I so desperately crave aren’t from this world, and I’m starting to care less and less for the ones that are.
More of Barna’s ‘Revolution’
Further to my original post.
The information and conclusions that this book provide mesh well with Willow Creek’s recent admission that the modern church model isn’t very good at dealing with people’s growth once they become believers. The primary source of life-transformation that they found was not church-based at all, but “God-centered endeavors taking place outside of a congregational connection”.
You are probably connected to some of them, or to people involved in them, without realizing their significance. Some of these mini-movements include homeschooling, “simple church” fellowships (i.e., house churches), biblical worldview groups, various marketplace Christian ministries, several spiritual disciplines networks, the Christian creative arts guilds, and others.
My ears perked up of course, because we’re strongly involved in two of the examples he mentioned.
So, why does this whole mini-movement thing change lives?
These people have made the faith orientation of the mini-movement the pivot point of their existence. They want more of God in their lives, so they invest themselves in the workings of the mini-movement, focusing on the distinctive emphasis of the group, whether it is all-out worship, heartfelt prayer, developing a Christian mind, or whatever the driving motivation of the group may be. It is that single-mindedness of intent and the intensity of their focus on God that enables the Lord to build them into Revolutionaries.
The danger inherent, I think, is that tight focus makes for lopsided people. There is so much “Yes, but you have to go further…” in this. As a reader of this book, one has to realize that what he is pointing to is one facet of a life devoted to God. Barna does a reasonable job of pointing out that these focus-creating mini-movements are like gateway drugs. They get people’s lives concentrated on God and change people’s attitudes and spirits, and then the other aspects of their relationship with God and other people change too.
A big danger for MrsPages and I: We just have to make sure we don’t love our little niche so much that we stay there.
Reading Barna’s ‘Revolution’
I’m reading George Barna’s Revolution on the advice of many other folks, and it’s been interesting. I’m a stats geek. I love trying to pull the real story out of statistical results and survey feedback and that sort of data. Barna is working from the results of polling thousands and thousands of churchgoers with some well-planned and insightful questions.
My only quibble so far (I’m just over half way though) is that he seems to elevate the “Revolutionaries” that he describes beyond what they deserve. In moving outside a traditional church setting, Barna (and many other authors that write on this topic) implies that they have moved “beyond” a traditional church setting. The implication is that they have matured and moved past the inferior old ways. He even seems to indicate that believers who forsake a gathering altogether, choosing to study, pray and mature as Christians on their own, are a model to be praised and emulated. We are told by scripture to gather as believers, that we are to be in community. Barna’s seeming high regard for “lone gun” believers seems odd to me.
He doesn’t explicitly say that not gathering together is a good thing, but let me illustrate my concern by describing the first seven pages of the book. These pages tell the story of two men. The first is a Christian who has left church and isn’t doing much. He’s disillusioned and too busy to be trying to get back to God. He is ministered to and encouraged by his Sunday morning golf partner: a Christian who left the church, but studies the Bible, prays all the time, volunteers at a soup kitchen, gives gobs of his money away and goes on missions trips. The second man is set forth as a brilliant example of these new “Revolutionaries”.
His life reflects the very ideals and principles that characterized the life and purpose of Jesus Christ and that advance the Kingdom of God - despite the fact that [he] rarely attends church services.
I’m impressed with the material that follows, but this initial chapter has me a bit spooked. I’m wondering when it’s going to rear its head again. It hasn’t shown up again yet, but I’m waiting.
I know some of our regular readers have read it. I’d be interested in hearing your ideas.
The Kite Runner
I gave up reading fiction of all types a few years ago as an exercise in fasting. It worked so well, that I never really picked up fictional reading again, at least not like I did in my younger days when I could inhale a book a night, most of them probably twaddle. Now I am mostly engaged in previewing children’s literature, and catching up on hundred and fifty year old classics that I’ve missed along the way.
A few weeks ago in our local newspaper (which I was glancing at in a coffee shop, because we gave up all news media in another fasting exercise) I ran across a list of secular “must reads” for today’s literature lovers. I wrote the titles down and searched them out at our library.
One of them turned out to be a post-apocalyptic novel about cannibals and such scary stuff that apparently ended on a hopeful note for mankind. As I am sensitive to violence and suffer from night terrors, I passed.
Next on the list was a new release that currently has 463 holds. There are ten copies of the book available. I added my name to my list and I’ll probably have forgotten why I ordered the book by the time I get it.
Three times lucky, the third book looked acceptable and was available.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a coming-of-age book of a young man who lives in Afghanistan at the time of the Russian invasion. He is haunted by his betrayal of a young friend and as he grows to manhood and beyond, he tries to atone for this betrayal. He eventually returns to the country he was exiled from and finds freedom from his demons.
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