Brian Jacques Returns to Redwall

Posted on October 21, 2005

Christian Hill of The Olympian interviewed children's author Brian Jacques, which is actually pronounced "Jakes." Jacques is most famous for his long-running Redwall series, in which the battle between good and evil is waged between the talking mice, squirrels and moles against the villainous foxes, rats and stoats.

The author talked about the enduring appeal of his books, and why he adores books that include descriptions of what everyone is eating. Jacques says, "It's the thing that has been forgotten, the good yarn. The kids love this sense of timelessness, and I love it, too."

Jacques told Hill that he sees his books as "object lessons for kids. He says, "Kids will come up to me and say, 'Why did this particular character die?' At some point in your life, somebody who you love very much will die."

Jacques also says he still loves writing but admits that coming up with stories has become more difficult. He says, "The joy of it is there's a lot of child in me."

Brian Jacques new Redwall book is High Rhulain (Philomel).

The interview from The Olympian is no longer available.

There is an interview with Jacques on Scholastic where he explains his heroic mice. He says, "I like mice! Mice are my heroes because, like children, mice are little and have to learn to be courageous and use their wits."

He also links his first realization that he wanted to be a writer to a school assignment: "When I was young, I was given an assignment to write a story about animals. I wrote about a bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. The story was so good that my teacher could not believe that a ten-year-old could write that well. I was even punished because my teacher thought I'd lied about writing it! I had always loved to write, but it was then that I realized that I had a talent for it."