Why is my iPad kicking me out of my apps? It just started doing this recently. What's up?

Sometimes the apps work; frequently they don’t. The app will load and then kind of hover there, looking like it’s going to be o.k. and then fail, kick me out, taking me back to the home screen. I try again, it kicks me out again. Over and over. It’s happened with the App Store app, the iPad Kindle app, Hulu and several others. Why is it doing this? Does my iPad hate me now? Is Mercury in retrograde? Do I need an update or a downgrade of some kind? Is it just plain broken?

It’s an iPad 1 or whatever a not-an-iPad-2 is called.

And please, while this question is in social, if you could, I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t take any hostility or antipathy you may have, for or toward Apple products or the company itself, out on my question. Thank you. :-)