Richard Adams wrote it based on his military time. Certain features of the book are clearly informed by his experience, like how they’re constantly talking about how fatigued or rested they are, based on the speed they’ve been traveling or working and how long they’ve been at it.
He said he based particular characters on particular people he knew. The seagull was a big explosives guy, Bigwig was a tough-as-hell officer that he really liked working with, and so on.
Yeah Animorphs as a kid had a darkness that Goosebumps couldn’t touch. The first one for me was realizing that one of the party members was forever stuck as a fucking bird, and they had whole chapters of his perspective getting used to the fact that his former life is gone. That was unheard of at the time.
Rachel becoming a fucked up person who only knew how to live in war was also great.
Tomorrow when the war began was another childhood fave of mine.
I wouldn’t say that sort of stuff was unheard of. My mum gave me some super tragic books about Polish kids during the war, there was loads of stuff with like thawing dead soldiers enough to steal boots etc. My mum’s Polish so fed me a lot of grim stuff to read to help understand her parents and their experiences. Idk if you’re usaian? maybe popular stuff was a bit more sanitised because of moral majority stuff?
Yeah I’m American and we had mostly Scholastic book fairs and the school library to count on for books. Animorphs, being published under them, was heavily advertised at the fairs.
Considering myself to be an “advanced” reader I’d stick to the young adult books, but mostly sci-fi (Dune) and fantasy (Dhampir). For 5th or 6th grade me, though, Animorphs was engaging enough until a new book came out and was constantly checked out at the library.
If you read it as a 5 year old child, everything about it from the pretty cover to the fundamental concept of a cutesy story about animals indicates that you were going to read a lighthearted story full of fun adventure, maybe at worst like The Velveteen Rabbit or the Secret of Nimh.
What you get instead is a brutal, gripping commentary on society that is well beyond your 5 year old comprehension, full of small animal gore, betrayal, starvation, and a desperate striving for survival.
The vibe lingers for a long time and it is not pleasant.
Watership down is PTSD camouflaged as children’s media.
Richard Adams wrote it based on his military time. Certain features of the book are clearly informed by his experience, like how they’re constantly talking about how fatigued or rested they are, based on the speed they’ve been traveling or working and how long they’ve been at it.
He said he based particular characters on particular people he knew. The seagull was a big explosives guy, Bigwig was a tough-as-hell officer that he really liked working with, and so on.
Watership Down and Animorphs. How the fuck did those books end up being kids books?
Because children are interested in darkness and fiction is a safe place to explore it and contextualise it?
Yeah Animorphs as a kid had a darkness that Goosebumps couldn’t touch. The first one for me was realizing that one of the party members was forever stuck as a fucking bird, and they had whole chapters of his perspective getting used to the fact that his former life is gone. That was unheard of at the time.
Tobias. Totes tragic.
Rachel becoming a fucked up person who only knew how to live in war was also great.
Tomorrow when the war began was another childhood fave of mine.
I wouldn’t say that sort of stuff was unheard of. My mum gave me some super tragic books about Polish kids during the war, there was loads of stuff with like thawing dead soldiers enough to steal boots etc. My mum’s Polish so fed me a lot of grim stuff to read to help understand her parents and their experiences. Idk if you’re usaian? maybe popular stuff was a bit more sanitised because of moral majority stuff?
Yeah I’m American and we had mostly Scholastic book fairs and the school library to count on for books. Animorphs, being published under them, was heavily advertised at the fairs.
Considering myself to be an “advanced” reader I’d stick to the young adult books, but mostly sci-fi (Dune) and fantasy (Dhampir). For 5th or 6th grade me, though, Animorphs was engaging enough until a new book came out and was constantly checked out at the library.
What does that even mean?
There’s plenty of children’s literature that deals with complex ideas like PTSD.
What are you trying to say?
If you read it as a 5 year old child, everything about it from the pretty cover to the fundamental concept of a cutesy story about animals indicates that you were going to read a lighthearted story full of fun adventure, maybe at worst like The Velveteen Rabbit or the Secret of Nimh.
What you get instead is a brutal, gripping commentary on society that is well beyond your 5 year old comprehension, full of small animal gore, betrayal, starvation, and a desperate striving for survival.
The vibe lingers for a long time and it is not pleasant.
Good book though.