From: Bokelman, Todd and Maggie <toddandmaggie>
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 22:12:18 -0400

Regarding Watership Down--I seem to remember that this book was originally marketed primarily to children in Great Britain, but to adults in the United States. Does anyone know if this is the case? I also remember reading, somewhere in the dim past, that Richard Adams wrote Watership Down specifically to fill what he saw as a literary gap--to give children the experience of reading an adult-type novel, in terms of length, and literary style, but with a story that would appeal to young people. If this is all true (and I'm not sure how well my memory is serving me), then Watership Down is unusal in that it was, in essence, purposefully written as a crossover book. I read Watership Down for the first time in, I think, 6th grade. I remember feeling proud that I was reading a "grown-up" novel. I loved it so much that I read it at least a dozen, probably more, times throughout junior high and high school. Honestly, I can't say for sure now what about it appealed to me so strongly at the time. Perhaps the author was right, and there simply weren't that many books (at least at that time--I think there are many, many such books now) that were written at a fairly sophisticated literary level while still telling a story that children could appreciate. As I write this, I'm thinking now that there aren't many books even today marketed to children (or young adults) as long as Watership Down.

Maggie Bokelman toddandmaggie at msn.com
Received on Mon 07 Jun 1999 09:12:18 PM CDT