Brian Jacques

Everyone has a book that defines their childhood. Not just a favorite book, one that you really enjoyed. Instead, this is a book that sets the tone for the rest of your reading life, that influences you in some kind of profound way. Maybe you don't realize how much this book affects you at the time, but I have to believe that every child who reads encounters a book like this at least once in their lifetime.

For me, that book was Redwall by Brian Jacques. I first read this book when I was 12 years old after one of my cousins gave the book a glowing review. Now, I didn't exactly run straight to the library and search for this book. I didn't even have active intentions of finding the book at all. But on a later visit to the library I did happen to come across it and, remembering my cousin's love for the book and intrigued by the idea of warrior mice, decided to give it a shot.

Let me tell you, whatever whim of fancy convinced me to take Redwall home with me changed my reading life forever.

At 352 pages long this was at the time the longest book I had ever read. Yet I was not at all intimidated by the small-ish type of the book's thickness. I read the book with great relish as its vivid descriptions, harrowing adventures, and sharp characters sucked me into the story. I was hooked.

As soon as I was finished I immediately set out to track down the rest of the series. For a solid 2-3 year period Redwall books were just about all that I read as I dove into each novel over and over again, reliving the adventures of Mossflower's woodland creatures with as much enthusiasm as I had the first time around. In time I would branch out to other authors and genres, but my favorites are often books that remind me on some level of Redwall. More importantly, these books taught me how to appreciate good writing. No one can describe a scene, an action sequence, or a feast like Brian Jacques.

Fast forward to February 2011. I'm now an adult and working as a children's librarian. And sadly I learned that Brian Jacques had passed away thanks to a sudden heart attack. I mourned the passing of this beloved author. I also mourned a little bit for my childhood.

Fast forward again to early April 2011, when I had the most surreal experience. Before his death, Brian Jacques had finished work on the latest - and now final - book in the series. Titled The Rogue Crew, the premise of the book sounds somewhat familiar but promises to bring out all of the elements that Jacques' fans love:

Redwall Abbey has never seen a creature more evil or more hideous than Razzid Wearat. Captain of the Greenshroud, a ship with wheels that can sail through water as well as the forest, this beast is a terror of both land and sea, traveling Mossflower Country, killing nearly everything-and everyone- in his path. And his goal? To conquer Redwall Abbey.

From Salamandastron to the High North Coast, the brave hares of the Long Patrol team up with the fearless sea otters of the Rogue Crew to form a pack so tough, so rough, only they can defend the abbey and defeat Razzid Wearat once and for all.

So even though Redwall was first published in 1986, and even though I only started reading these books during the late 1990s, and even though the author died during my first year of librarianship I still got to order one of the Redwall books for the library's collection.

I kind of feel like I've come full circle.



For those interested, here is a link to Brian Jacques' website, full of more information about the author and his books. And here is another link to a lovely obituary published on School Library Journal's website.