Watership Down: Exploring the Novel
When author Richard Adams’s daughters requested a story on a long car ride, he invented a tale of rabbits on a quest.
Afterward, they encouraged him to publish it, and it grew into a novel beloved by children and adults for over 50 years. With its thrilling storyline, fascinating cast of characters, rich natural history, and timeless themes, Watership Down satisfies a reader’s thirst for adventure and hunger for meaning.
What's Included
This course for homeschoolers in middle school and high school is designed to offer a reading community for students. It includes short video lessons highlighting major themes, questions, literary elements and background to enhance their reading along the way. Students are encouraged to keep a reading journal and write a final essay on the book. Writing prompts, suggestions for further study, and an online discussion group are included.
Textbook
Students should have a copy of the novel to read, annotate (if desired), and refer to in their writing about the story. There are many editions of the book to choose from; the version I have is the 2018 Scribner edition, and this is the edition I cite in the lessons when I quote from the book.
There’s a good Audible version of the story read by Peter Capaldi. It’s fine to listen to it — this way other family members can enjoy it too! However, students should have access to a copy of the actual book to refer to in their journal, essay, and discussion posts.
How It Works
The course is delivered asynchronously. There are no scheduled class meetings; all the instruction is included in the course so students can complete the work for each week at the times most convenient for your family.
Students work independently at their own pace through the novel and accompanying lessons, with parents supervising at their discretion and grading the final paper.
Purchase grants access to the course for 6 months.
Interested?
Image Credits:
“Watership Down from Northeast” by David Buttery. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Watership_Down_From_Northeast.jpg
“Watership Down” by Unknown. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Watership-down-nw.jpg