Redwall Abbey Library
(by Mario)
Keeper of the Books · Taster of the Scones · Age Twelve Seasons
Greetings, Traveler!
Welcome to the Library of Redwall Abbey. Wipe your paws on the mat, find a good chair by the
window, and stay as long as you like. The kitchens are just down the hall (see my
Redwall Feast Recipes), and no one will chase you out at
closing time, because there isn't one.
My name is Mario and I am twelve years old. I have read all eleven Redwall books by Brian
Jacques, some of them three times, and Martin the Warrior four times, though the fourth
time I only read the good parts. My mom helped me make the tables on this page, but every word
on it is mine. I am going to be a writer someday, just like Brian Jacques, so I am practicing.
My Rankings, From Best to Still Very Good
These are all eleven books in the order I like them. The year is when each one came out. If you
are new, start with Redwall, because it came first, even though it isn't first in the
story. (The Redwall books jump around in time. That is half the fun.)
| # |
Book |
What I Think |
| 1 |
Martin the Warrior
(1993) |
Martin when he was young, before he was a legend. Badrang the stoat makes him a slave, and he
will not give up no matter what. The ending made me shut the book and go sit on the back steps for a while.
I will not tell you why. |
| 2 |
Mossflower
(1988) |
How Martin came to Mossflower Wood and stood up to Tsarmina the wildcat. Also Gonff, Prince of
Mousethieves, who is the funniest character in any book ever written. |
| 3 |
Redwall
(1986) |
The first one. Matthias is just a clumsy young mouse at the Abbey until Cluny the Scourge comes
over the hill. Where it all started. |
| 4 |
Salamandastron
(1992) |
The mountain fortress of the badger lords, by the sea. Badgers are the best thing in the whole
series, and this book has the most badger. |
| 5 |
Mattimeo
(1989) |
Slagar the Cruel steals the Abbey's young ones, Matthias's son Mattimeo too, and the grownups go
after them. Very scary in the middle. Very good at the end. |
| 6 |
Mariel of Redwall
(1991) |
A mousemaid who washes up on the shore with no memory and a knotted rope she calls Gullwhacker,
against Gabool the searat king. My sister Jennifer's favorite. She is nine and she has a rope now. |
| 7 |
The Long Patrol
(1997) |
A young hare sets off to join the Long Patrol. Hares are hilarious, and they eat more than
anybody, and they are brave right up to the end. |
| 8 |
Outcast of Redwall
(1995) |
The Abbey raises a ferret baby, and nobody knows whether he will turn out good or bad. This
is the one that made me think the most. |
| 9 |
The Pearls of Lutra
(1996) |
Six pink pearls called the Tears of All Oceans are hidden all over the Abbey, and a pine marten
emperor named Ublaz Mad Eyes wants them. Best villain name in the series. |
| 10 |
The Bellmaker
(1994) |
Joseph the Bellmaker, who is Mariel's father, sails south to help her because of a dream. Good,
but they are away from the Abbey most of the book and I missed it. |
| 11 |
Marlfox
(1998) |
Somebody has to be last, and I am sorry, Marlfox. Sneaky foxes steal the Abbey's tapestry of
Martin. Still better than most books that aren't Redwall books. |
Heroes and Villains
In the Redwall books the good creatures are mostly mice, badgers, hares, otters, squirrels,
hedgehogs and moles. The vermin are mostly rats, foxes, stoats, weasels and ferrets. (But read
Outcast of Redwall before you decide that is the whole story.)
THE HEROES
Martin the Warrior (mouse). The greatest warrior of all. Even when he isn't in a book,
he is in it, because his spirit looks after the Abbey. He has the sword.
Matthias (mouse). Starts out tripping over his own robe and ends up the Abbey's
champion. Proof that anybody can be a hero.
Constance (badger). The strongest creature at the Abbey. If I had a bodyguard I would want
Constance.
Basil Stag Hare (hare). Eats everything, talks a lot, and is a genius at disguises.
Gonff (mouse). The Prince of Mousethieves. He steals things and makes up songs, and he is
a true friend.
|
THE VILLAINS
Cluny the Scourge (rat). One eye, a huge horde, and a tail he uses like a whip. The first
and maybe still the scariest.
Asmodeus (adder). A giant snake in the first book. I read that part with every light in the
house on.
Tsarmina (wildcat). The queen of Kotir. Proud and mean and completely sure she is going to
win.
Slagar the Cruel (fox). Wears a mask. Steals children. Enough said.
Badrang the Tyrant (stoat). Makes slaves of every creature he catches, and I wanted Martin to
get him more than I have ever wanted anything in a book.
|
Why the Feasts Are the Best Part
Every Redwall book has a feast, and some have three. Brian Jacques does not just say
"they had a big dinner." He tells you every single thing on the table, and how it smelled, and
who made it, and who ate too much of it (a hare, usually). There are pies as big as cart
wheels made by the moles, and scones, and nutbreads, and cheeses, and salads, and cordials in
every color, and October Ale, and the otters' hotroot soup, which is so hot it makes you cry and
then ask for more.
I have figured out the reason why. Brian Jacques first wrote these stories for children who
could not see. So he couldn't show them pictures. He made the pictures out of words instead,
and food is the best thing for that, because everybody knows what warm bread smells like.
That's why you get hungry reading these books. It isn't an accident. It's on purpose.
For my twelfth birthday in May I had a Redwall feast instead of a pizza party. My mom helped
me make three things from the books, or close to them. October Ale was not one of them.
(It is ale. I am twelve. My mom said this very clearly.) The recipes are here:
My Own Story: Chapter One
This is the first chapter of a book I am writing in a green notebook. It is not about Redwall.
It is my own place and my own creatures, but I wrote it the way Brian Jacques writes, because
that is the way I like best. Please don't copy it. It is mine.
THE KEY OF THORNHOLD
Chapter One: A Stranger in the Rain
Autumn came early to Greenbriar Wood that year. The wind went through the old oaks like a tired
giant sighing, and the leaves came spinning down, red and gold and brown, onto the slate roofs of
Thornhold Priory, where the peaceful creatures of the wood had lived for more seasons than anyone
could count.
Down in the Priory kitchens, Friar Quillum the hedgehog was making his famous blackberry and apple
crumble, and young Brindle the squirrel was supposed to be helping him. Mostly he was eating the
blackberries.
"One more berry, young Brindle," said the Friar without even turning around, "and you will be
scrubbing pots until the snow flies."
"How did you know?" said Brindle, with his mouth full.
"A hedgehog has eyes in every one of his spikes," said Friar Quillum, and Brindle was almost sure
that wasn't true.
That night the rain came, hard and cold, drumming on the shutters. Brindle was nearly asleep in
his little room under the bell tower when he heard it: the old gate bell, ringing slow and heavy
in the dark. Nobody ever rang the gate bell at midnight. Nobody.
Brindle grabbed a lantern and ran down the stairs, and he got to the gate at the same moment as
Father Hollis the old mouse and the Friar, who had a soup ladle in his paw like a war club.
Together they hauled the gate open.
A hare stood there in the rain. His coat was torn and his ears drooped, and he leaned on a broken
spear like an old creature leans on a stick.
"Lieutenant Barnaby Thistlewhite, at your service," he said, and he tried to bow, and he almost
fell over. "I've run three days and three nights to warn you. Vorgash the Grey is coming. A stoat,
and a hundred rats and weasels behind him, over the Bramble Hills. He wants Thornhold, and he
wants the key."
"What key?" said Father Hollis.
The hare opened his paw. In it was a small old key made of green copper, with an acorn carved on
the end of it. Then he fainted, right there in the puddle.
Brindle looked at the key, and then out at the dark, wet wood, and for the first time in his whole
life he did not feel hungry at all.
To be continued! (Chapter Two is in my notebook. I have to type it.)
|
About Brian Jacques
Brian Jacques lives in Liverpool, England, and he turned sixty this summer. Before he was a
famous writer he had a lot of jobs, and one of them was delivering milk. One of the places on his
route was a school for blind children, and he started writing a story for them. That story was
Redwall. A teacher he used to have read it and showed it to a publisher without even telling
him, and that is how it became a book.
That is my favorite thing about him. He wasn't trying to be famous. He was just trying to make a
good story for some kids. That's what I'm going to do too. My plan is to write twelve books,
one more than there are Redwall books right now. (I know there will be more Redwall books by
then. I'll catch up.)
The Next Book I'm Waiting For
The next one is called The Legend of Luke, and it is about Luke, Martin's father!
Nobody knows much about Martin's family in the other books, so I have been waiting for this my
whole life. Well, since May. It comes out in England first, and here next year, I think. My mom
says we are NOT ordering it from England. I am working on her.
If you like Redwall stories, go visit
Kathleen's Redwall Fan Fiction ~ Tales from Mossflower.
She writes her own stories, with a young otter and a Long Patrol hare in them. They're really good.
You are reader number
   
since this Library opened in May 1999
Write to the Keeper of the Books:
[email protected]
(Tell me your favorite book and your favorite feast food!)
Last updated Sunday, September 19, 1999
Redwall and all the creatures in it belong to Brian Jacques. This page is just a fan's library.
Thornhold and Brindle belong to me.
|
GeoCities.us
» Paris » Garret
