guys I had this realization the other day that Redwall works really well for reading aloud, and kinda half-remembered something about the author reading to kids? So I looked it up to see if I had made a connection.
And it turns out, yes, actually, because he read aloud to kids at a school for the blind. But all the books they gave him to read were depressing. So he wrote Redwall, a story about heroism and courage and making it through struggles, and filled it with so many sensory, visual details so he could give them something better and I just-- that's so wholesome-- help
i remember reading the Redwall books as a kid and noticing that they talk about food all the time. like, both that food and eating keep coming up in the dialogue, and also that characters have tons of feasts where every dish is described. at the time, i think i found it a little repetitive but now i realize he was probably lingering on those details because he knew sense of taste was something his audience could access and appreciate, and that is in fact very—well, sweet.
I actually worked at a bookstore where Brian Jacques gave a signing. Warm, funny man, who berated me for owning a copy of a Redwall book with cover art that he, specifically, disapproved of. It was great.
But at the beginning of the signing, he stood up in front of the crowd and recited the first chapter of the first book.
From memory.
It was animated and funny and brilliant and spellbinding to watch, just letting the story roll out of him. And after about 30 minutes, his wife, stationed at the back of the children's section, said, "That's enough, dear," and he moved on to signing.
Delightful people.
