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September 16, 2004
• Children's author boosts kids’ self-esteem with small heroes • A braw squirrel warrior comes to the rescue Children's author boosts kids’ self-esteem with small heroes In the early 1980s, Brian Jacques volunteered to read to children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in his native Liverpool, England. At the time he was a truck driver who delivered milk to the school. He soon found himself telling his own stories, using his rich voice and storytelling skills to pack his tales to overflowing with details -- not just sights, but also sounds, smells, tastes and plenty of action. Neither Jacques nor his audience could have guessed that these spoken tales would evolve into the immensely successful Redwall books. Jacques has written 16 of the children's fantasy novels, with a 17th just out this week. All are still in print, including the first, "Redwall," published in 1986. Jacques (pronounced "jakes") will be appearing and signing books at Berkshire Country Day School in Lenox on Tuesday at 4 p.m., as one of 16 stops on the American leg of a tour to promote his new book, "Rakkety Tam." Part of the books' success may stem from the richness of Jacques’ language, honed in that long-ago storytelling to children who relied on their imaginations to visualize. But another reason for his devoted following and huge sales may be Brian Jacques’ determination to give kids heroes they can identify with. When Jacques was reading at Wavertree, it was a time when children’s book writers were exploring edgy fiction on topics like divorce, drugs and dysfunctional families. That type of children’s literature is not Brian Jacques’ cup of tea. "The kids are living in the middle of that," he said. "They want to be taken out of it.” Jacques likes stories that transport readers to fantastic places, stories where they can root for the little guy. As he puts it, "Kids want 'Once upon a time.' “ Jacques started making up his own stories, and Redwall was born. The new novel, about a mercenary warrior squirrel battling a savage, merciless wolverine, is the 17th of his beloved Redwall books. Just don't call it a series. "It's not a series, m’dear, it’s a saga," said Jacques, 65, in a recent phone interview from his home in Liverpool. In the course of a half-hour transatlantic conversation, Jacques comes off as funny, finicky, confident and utterly charming. Jacques described his new character, Rakkety Tam, as "a fighter. He’s like, you could imagine, a [Scottish] Highland soldier, but he knows the right side of the fence.” The Redwall books are all straightforward fantasy, with clear battles between the forces of good and evil. The stories are set in a forested land called Mossflower Wood, with the red stone abbey of Redwall in the middle. His heroes are typically a ragtag fellowship of peace-loving (and often food-loving) forest creatures -- mice, allied with moles, hedgehogs, hares and sparrows -- that must unite to defeat aggressive animals like rats and weasels. The recurring theme of the underdog triumphing over the aggressor isn't so far from Jacques’ own life story, which reads like a literary rags-to-riches adventure tale. As a child growing up poor in Liverpool, Jacques loved classic books like "Treasure Island" and the Sherlock Holmes stories; later when a teacher introduced him to "The Iliad" and “The Odyssey,” he saved up to buy used copies. But he wasn't exactly a precociously brilliant student. “I was never a great, dedicated scholar,” he acknowledged, adding, “I was an absolute swine. I was one of those kids who was always ducking and weaving.” Jacques gave fans a hint of what his childhood was like when in the second Redwall book, "Mossflower," he modeled a character called Gonff, the thief prince, after himself. Jacques quit school at 15 and signed on as a merchant seaman, sailing to far-flung ports. He later returned to Liverpool and worked as a longshoreman, bus driver, boxer, police constable and standup comedian. During the 1960s when a Liverpool-based group called The Beatles hit it big, he formed a folk group called The Liverpool Fishermen. The breadth of his experience informs his writing well: even as animals, his characters reflect an author who has been around. Jacques also makes great use of his ear for different accents, bestowing his animal characters with a variety of dialects, including Scots and Irish and Welsh accents, and others of his own invention. He looks to the qualities of an animal for what kind of dialogue to give them. "Like the otters are natural nautical types," he explained, so their voices should call to mind sailors. The chattering of sparrows in his garden -- where he sits at a patio table to tap out his novels on a manual typewriter -- inspired the staccato "Sparra" dialect of the birds in his first novel. In the new book, Rakkety Tam's sidekick, Wild Doogy Plumm, speaks with a thick Scottish accent, as when he makes fun of the realm’s king and queen to Tam while they’re in jail: "Och, Tam, mah beauty, don’t ye wish we were oot there, havin’ sich a braw time, caterwaulin’ the auld eejits praises?" At his author appearances, he's not the kind of writer who sits on a stool and quietly reads, Jacques said: "I leap all over the place and shout and terrify them." He's cut back somewhat on the scope of his book tours -- which used to run as long as seven weeks -- after suffering a stroke two years ago and a mild heart attack this spring. This time he’s doing a three-week tour, with one signing a day. Jacques’ voice is part of his allure: his robust yet lilting British accent, with a hint of the roughhewn, working-class docks of Liverpool, sounds like it was made for storytelling. (If you can’t make the event and want a taste of the Jacques magic, he’s narrated all the audiotapes of his books -- check your local library.) Jacques does a half-hour presentation, and then likes to take questions from his young readers. "They always ask, 'Why do you write about animals?' and I always say, ‘Because animals are better people than people are,’ " he said. In the grand tradition of Aesop, Jacques plays up the different qualities of animals (at least in a literary sense), and he said kids catch on quickly that when he refers to "dirty rats" and "slimy snakes," these are the villains. As he likes to put it, “You never heard of somebody getting lost in the forest and having their head bit off by a grizzly mouse, did you?” The Redwall books have appeared on every major bestseller list, and been translated into 16 languages, with more than 15 million copies in print. Jacques' appearances often attract crowds of 300 to 800, and his Web site (www.redwall.org) receives more than 5 million hits a year. The Redwall popularity "In part," said Jacques, "it's just being 'old-fashioned’ sorts of tales with a universal appeal. All of my books are what my dad used to call ‘a good yarn,’ “ said Jacques. In addition to the 17 novels Jacques has also penned two Redwall picture books, and said he has plans for a Redwall cookbook. In recent years he's explored other writing, with a collection of horror stories for children and a picture book, "Urso Brunov," based on a Russian folk tale. In 2001 he launched a series called "Castaways of the Flying Dutchman," with a sequel, “The Angel’s Command,” published last year and a third book to come. The Dutchman stories are about a teenage boy and his companion, a talking dog, aboard the ill-fated ship of legend, which is doomed to sail for all eternity. His “Castaways” characters also become eternal, but instead of being cursed like the ship’s captain and crew, they travel around the world doing good. I wondered whether Jacques has any desire to write for older readers. "I'd love to write for adults," he responded, "but me publisher would have a conniption." Jacques confessed a desire to write “a good Mafia novel,” and though he did sound a tad wistful about the confines of his own success in the world of children’s books, he also sounded grateful to be successful doing something he loves. There's a Redwall television show, and Jacques said he’s currently talking to four different studios about a movie deal, but "it’s not important to me." He spurned the advances of a video game producer, telling the man that he knows "what those sorts of games are all about: you get to the seventh level and splat the rat. You’re not doing that to my books." While his success is phenomenal by most standards, it still pales by comparison -- as most authors do -- to that other, better-known children's novelist, she who must not be named. During a pause in the interview, Jacques asked whether I was going to ask him about the Harry Potter books. "No, I wasn’t," I replied. "That would be a first," he retorted, positively bristling. While kids find his books entertaining, Jacques also aims, with his emphasis on the courage and honesty of his small heroes, to boost kids' self-esteem. Providing a positive message is something Jacques said is "a responsibility." "You've got to give the kids something" beyond just being funny and telling a good tale, he said. He’s fond of pointing out that, to a child, a hero isn’t someone like an Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Bruce Willis blowing up buildings; a brave little mouse is much closer to their reality. Jacques’ books have their share of violence, with plenty of medieval sieges and swordplay, but a Brian Jacques book does not blur the lines between good and evil. Said Jacques, "You must have bad baddies and good goodies.” His readers seem to get the message. "Kids have written to me, kids who were bullied, and said they got courage from my books." I end the interview by asking Jacques what he'll be working on next. He says he’s just finished writing the 18th Redwall book. "It’s called 'High Rhulian [pronounced roo-lane],’ he reveals, adding, teasingly, "and I’m not going to tell you anything more about it." Like any great storyteller, Brian Jacques knows how to hook his audience and keep them in suspense.
A braw squirrel warrior comes to the rescue Rakkety Tam By Brian Jacques Philomel Books, 384 pages, $23.99 Rakkety Tam MacBurl is an old-fashioned hero straight out of Sir Walter Scott. With one difference -- he's a squirrel. He’s got the gruff swagger of a warrior, tested in battle; a quick wit; unfailing good humor; courage in any daunting situation and loyal to the end. You recognize the type. He also has a sidekick, the equally brave, smiling, loyal Wild Doogy Plumm. Also a squirrel. Brian Jacques, author of the "Redwall" novels of which "Rakkety Tam" is number 17, writes unapologetically in the heroic style of an earlier age. Intended for young readers ages 9 through 15, the books command a wider audience. The official Web site at www.redwall.org says: "The heroes are peace-loving mice, moles, shrews, squirrels, and their friends who exhibit human characteristics in a medieval setting. They face the dark side of the animal world, represented by rats, weasels, stoats, foxes and their villain allies, in the day-to-day struggle of good versus evil, life versus death." The two heroes of "Rakkety Tam," Tam and Doogy formed their friendship journeying south from their native Scotland during a time of hardship -- swords-for-hire moving to warmer climes. When we meet the pair in an early chapter of "Rakkety Tam," they've been jailed for insubordination by Squirrelking Araltum and his consort, Idga Drayqueen. Araltum and Idga are minor, self-appointed rulers of an area not far from Mossflower Wood, site of the famous Redwall Abbey. Tam and Doogy had pledged their swords to the woodland king and queen, and then grown dissatisfied with their piffling regulations. The plot begins in earnest when violent creatures from a far-away land attack the squirrels. Tam and Doogy vow to defeat the vermin if the squirrelking will release them from their pledges. The rest of the book follows the exploits of Tam and Doogy as they fight Gulo the Savage, a wolverine, and his followers, ultimately preventing Gulo from attacking and destroying the idyllic Redwall Abbey community of woodland creatures. In all the Redwall books, good triumphs over evil -- there are no gray areas. A secondary theme of love of community, love of neighbor is strong throughout. The Abbey residents are well-known in Mossflower Wood for their hospitality and their cooking. And although the book is set in the fictitious Abbey, there is no overt Christian content. I found the large number of characters a little confusing for the first chapter or two, but I really enjoyed the accents of all the different animals. Jacques utilizes the regional accents of England to differentiate between the species -- the moles have Cornish accents, for example, and the hares have posh, uppercrust accents. The book is rich with humor, from Rakkety Tam and Doogy Plumm and the large cast of secondary characters. Yoofus Lightpaw, the water vole, the most expert thief on Mossflower Wood, and his wife, Didjety, are very funny, as are the youngsters (Dibbuns) being raised at the Abbey. Even though I am several decades past the intended age range for these books, I enjoyed the story so much, I am tempted to go back to the beginning and read them all. |
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