Born on June 15, 1939 Two sons: Mark and David, his dog, Teddy, his wife Liz, granddaughters Jade and Hannah, brothers Jimmy and Tony. Went to St. John's School Redwall wasn't intended to be a book. Brian Jacques told the story to children at Royal Wavertree School for the Blind, and his friend and former English teacher, Alan Durband sent it to a publisher. Likes to write outside in his garden in the spring, in a conservatory when it¡¦s raining. Writes fantasy stories. Most famous books: Redwall, Mossflower, Mattimeo, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, and Triss.Brian Jacques has won a couple small awards for individual books, such as a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club main selection for Martin the Warrior, Salamandastron, Mossflower, and Redwall have won the Lancashire Libraries Children's Book of the Year Award. Redwall, Mossflower, and Mattimeo have won the Western Australian Young Readers' Award.
I chose this author because the Redwall series is my favorite series, and because I did not know much about Brian Jacques. "In Redwall, a hero can be a mouse or a shrew. He can be scared, he can get hurt, he can die. People don't have to look up to him to be saved, they look to him to fight with them. They look to him because he's smart, because he's willing to pay the price. He's committed to his cause. They look to him because he is like them. He knows what's right and knows it has to be done. He'll do it or die trying. Kids learn from these stories that sometimes the characters do die. It might be their favorite character, even. They learn that heroism doesn't come easy and does not come without a cost." This quote was from a biography on the Internet, and I thought it was very fitting for the series. A quote from the same website I thought was funny was, "I suppose there's a child inside me who wants to get out. A little baldy child with a beard. Ha!" In conclusion, Brian Jacques is an outstanding children's author with a lot of accomplishments.
It starts off with Martin, the mouse (as a child) on the shoreline with his elderly father, Luke. Luke knows Martin has warrior spirit inside him and gives Martin his sword and sails away. Then one day, Martin was with his mother when a gang of searats passed by his shack and attacked Martin and his mother. Then Badrang, the leader of the searats took Luke's sword from Martin. Martin and his mother were sent to Badrang's slave camp in fortress Marshank where his mother shortly died after. After being sentenced to death, Martin gets saved by two travellers - Rose (a mouse) and Grumm (a mole). Martin escapes, but he still didn't get his sword back from Badrang. Now this is where the story begins - Martin will do anything to get his father's sword back and re-claim his family honor. He also wants vengeance over Badrang for enslaving all the innocent animals he abducted to work for him.
Please read "Redwall" before reading this book, you'll enjoy this one a bit more. I must admit the ending shocked me, and I nearly cried at the end. They should change this book's reading age to 9-100 because everyone will enjoy this book! The last battle at Marshank was outstanding, but it was a bit dissapointing because the final sword-fight was too short. I read this book in 2 days, and enjoyed every page of it. This is a must-read, Redwall fan or not!
