Funnily enough, my parents read Watership Down to me too, I would have been around 4-5 then. They skipped the worst bits, and yet still I remember being scared.

Funnily enough, my parents read Watership Down to me too, I would have been around 4-5 then. They skipped the worst bits, and yet still I remember being scared. I liked the rest of the story, including the happy end. You can sanitize without hurting, and even if you think you remove the worst bits, it can still be too much, for some children at least.