Proof that the powers that be in the publishing business (or really any business that makes its money with creative talent) have always been afraid to take risks and don't necessarily know what the public wants: it took Richard Adams 13 tries to finally get a deal on Watership Down and guess what? It took the world by storm and has never been out of print since. The story tells the heroic tale of Hazel and his crew, a group of rabbits who turn rebellious by necessity and break off from their threatened warren, facing dangers and adventures as they search for a new home. The rabbits speak and think (in their own language, Lapine) and have human like personalities, but live as animals, and face the challenges that animals face, rather than as rabbits who live like people with clothing and little furniture like other fantastical animal children's books.
The book is easy enough in subject matter and style to be read by children, many of you I am sure were assigned this in Jr. High, but the complexity of the mythology and culture of the rabbits and the sheer fun of the survival tale makes this novel one worth rereading as an adult. This is also an absolutely perfect companion to this week's TV pick.
But what do you think?