Children's Books > Richard Adams Children's Books

Advantages: Great read
Disadvantages: NA

Great Book: Maia by Richard Adams Richard Adams' Shardik was one of the first adult novels I ever read as a child (I read it before his better known Watership Down) and I can still remember the powerful impression the opening chapters made on me. I have reread Shardik several times now, however, and what most impresses me most about it is the depth of the historical and sociological detail - it reads like an extremely well researched historical ...
...peoples. Thanks for reading this review. It is a definite read and i reccomend you do buy it or read it. Can be bought for low prices even on amazon if you are thinking of reading this book. It is great if you are a fan of richard adams as well ... Read review

Advantages: Absorbing age old folk-tales
Disadvantages: A couple are a little risque for younger kids

...imagination often wanders off for the day selfishly rendering the body of myself totally useless. However on the plus side having a roving imagination means I still absolutely adore the realms of fantasy. I still get a kick out of folklore, fairy tales and believe many a horror story is rivalled by the good old Brothers Grimm... though horror stories too are just tales of fantasy stretched to the extreme. Imagine the glee of a teenage Whoopidoo ...
...art work. Add to this the fact that the stories have been compiled and edited by Richard Adams - the man who gifted the world with Watership Down and we have a near delirious Whoopidoo begging an unfortunate Boot Fair stall holder to drop his price and accept her £1 pocket money for said treasure. A good twelve or thirteen years later and The Iron Wolf is one of the few books to stand the test of time. Not many these days are privileged with permanent ... Read review

Advantages: Easy read
Disadvantages: Engages younger reader more than older readers

Quite a good book and very suitable for the audience. Richard Down is excellent in providing a good read for readers of all ages and genders. This book keeps the reader entertained and is has a very good story line to it. The characters are friendly and easy to relate to the the book as a whole is very easy to read. All these factors help this book be passed down to generations. I recommend this book to any one that likes easy going type of books ... Read review

Advantages: That old magic's still there...
Disadvantages: ...but not often enough

...readers will come away from Tales from Watership Down feeling disappointed and let down. Tales from Watership Down (TFWD) is a much thinner volume than Watership Down itself, running to under 250 pages as opposed to the 470-plus of the original. No matter, one thinks, as surely that's still enough space for an interesting novel. Would that this were so; in fact, TFWD is split into three parts, only one of which can justly be regarded as sequelious ...
...taken up mostly with five tales of El-ahrairah, along the lines of those told (mostly by Dandelion) in Watership Down. Two of them ("The Fox in the Water" and "The Hole in the Sky") are mentioned in passing in the first book, and it's nice to see them expanded to full length. It may not be an accident that these are also the two most enjoyable reads of the five; the others are frankly somewhat forgettable, and it's unfortunate to say the least that ... Read review

Advantages: Lovely illustrations, catchy story
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit too long for a younger child

The Princess and The Wizard - another wonderful book by Julia Donaldson. This is another one of my daughter's faves although perhaps the story is a little bit long for her at the moment but she loves the pictures, especially the glittery ones. It's the story of Princess Eliza, who gets captured & whisked away (on her 7th birthday of all days!) by a wicked wizard who likes turning people to stone. Luckily before she is taken away, her fairy godmother ...
...colour and changing her shape'. The wizard isn't impressed and replies 'changing her colour and changing her shape will never help Princess Eliza escape'. So Princess Eliza gets seven chances to escape and each day she changes herself into something new, such as a blue fish, yellow chick, green grasshopper... But the wizard always finds her and takes her back to his castle to do some horrible work for him. On her final chance to escape, Eliza realises ... Read review