By Brian Jacques
Philomel, 1986
Narrated by Brian Jacques and Full Cast
Genre
Adventure, Animal Fantasy, Magic Realism
Awards
- The Lancashire Libraries Children's Book of the Year Award (1988)
- Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal (1988)
- The Western Australian Young Reader's Award (1990)
Review
A wonderful adventure story that portrays mice, and other woodland creatures, in Redwall Abby. All the creatures are peaceful and everyone in the forest knows it is an unwritten rule to attack anyone wearing a Redwall habit, but the terrible sea-rat, Cluny the Scourge, sees Redwall as a perfect base for him. Redwall inhabitants have their peaceful lives turned upside-down when they hear Cluny is coming to attack. But Matthias, a brave young orphaned mouse, understood the danger ahead and took the Abby's founder, Martin the Warrior, as his example to try himself to become the Warrior of Redwall. He later finds that Martin knew Matthias would be born long after he himself had died, and Martin's spirit would be with him in battle. Along with friends like Constance the Badger, Basil Stage Hare, Methuselah the mouse, and Abbot Mortimer, Matthias retrieves Martin's hidden sword and shield, battles a giant adder snake called Asmodeus Poisonteeth, and defeats Cluny the Scourge and his army in this exciting adventure. Author Brian Jacques and his full cast of voice actors do a wonderful job of giving life to the wonderful characters in this story and keep the listener yearning to hear more.
Opinion
I thought this was a wonderfully entertaining book; the voices of the characters were stuck in my head long after pausing the story and I was always wondering what would happen next. The book is on the longer side, but it is perfectly appropriate for tweens who enjoy a good adventure story. My friend had recommended I read this as it was apparently popular when we were growing up, but I had completely missed it! I'm certainly glad to have read it now than think I will be suggesting it to many children in the future.
Ideas
This may be a good book for reluctant readers because the story pulls you in not long after starting it and is full of action, but the thickness of it and some (though very little) of the language might be difficult. This books will be pleasing to many different kinds of readers as it touches many genres: it has animals acting as humans, a magical element of Martin's spirit still being involved with Matthias, a brave warrior who strikes out on his own several times on quests, and an easily hated villain that all readers can root against. Since the idea of the morality behind war is briefly touched on as well, this book could be a class assignment and a discussion generated on this topic.
Opinion
I thought this was a wonderfully entertaining book; the voices of the characters were stuck in my head long after pausing the story and I was always wondering what would happen next. The book is on the longer side, but it is perfectly appropriate for tweens who enjoy a good adventure story. My friend had recommended I read this as it was apparently popular when we were growing up, but I had completely missed it! I'm certainly glad to have read it now than think I will be suggesting it to many children in the future.
Ideas
This may be a good book for reluctant readers because the story pulls you in not long after starting it and is full of action, but the thickness of it and some (though very little) of the language might be difficult. This books will be pleasing to many different kinds of readers as it touches many genres: it has animals acting as humans, a magical element of Martin's spirit still being involved with Matthias, a brave warrior who strikes out on his own several times on quests, and an easily hated villain that all readers can root against. Since the idea of the morality behind war is briefly touched on as well, this book could be a class assignment and a discussion generated on this topic.
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