Saturday, October 30, 2010

Redwall


By Brian Jacques

It is the Summer of the Late Rose, and the mice of Mossflower Wood are gathered at the ancient stone abbey of Redwall, celebrating a year of peace and abundance. But a shadow has fallen across the abbey, for it is rumored that Cluny is coming-Cluny, the terrible one-eyed rat, whose vow is to conquer Redwall!
The woodland creatures rush to a desperate defense. But what can peaceloving mice do against Cluny and his army? If only they had the sword of Martin the Warrior. But its hiding place is long forgotten, even by the wise old mouse Methuselah. It is his young apprentice Matthias who sets out to find the legendary sword and becomes a most unlikely hero…


I remember my 6th grade teacher reading Brian Jacques’ books to us out loud, and I recall everyone loving them, except me, who always had the attention span of a flea when it came to listening. So, I decided to revisit Redwall, the beginning of the animal stories of Brian Jacques. I love Mathias; a little abbey mouse who wants to be a warrior and a monk at the same time. This book has that classic hero-journey in it that so many people adore and is an age old tool to write a story. The only difference is you don’t have humans. It’s mice, ferrets, foxes, rats, badgers, adders, and chipmunks. It’s loads of fun to read and has a great feel to it. I’d recommend it to anybody any age.

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