Of Mice and Men...

I remember when I was younger, that I stumbled across a book which on the cover had a small picture of an abby cloister. Above that cloister, written in oldstyle gothic blue letters were the following words:

"It was the Start of the Summer of the Late Rose, Mossflower Country Shimmered..."

On the bottom right hand corner, a fat mouse in a habbit stood holdin a sword, and sectioned off above him in the top right was what appeared to be a large rat with a helmet on. I would soon learn to call these places and characters by beloved names, Redwall Abby, Matthias, and Cluny the Scourage. This adventures, with characters that were animorphically different from me and the people I knew and yet so similar were the work of the imagination of one man known as Brian Jacques.

Mr. Jacques wrote 22 novels that took place in the Country of Mossflower, and has toched many of us at one time or another with his style of writing and storytelling that brings our imaginations to imerse ourselves and enjoy the otters, the hares, the mice, and yes, even the badgers. He taught us that no creature is too small for its own destiny and that sometimes, even a mousemaid can be theheroine of the lot.

Some of my favorite Books in the series are the ones early on, lke Mossflower, Mattimeo, and of course, Mariel of Redwall. However, there are other book sin this series that have also made an Impact on me like The Bellmaker, and of course Salamandastron. These books were a cornerstone of my own life and in thus, have made an impact on the way I think and also on the way that I write. It is with a heavy heart however that I say that Mr. Brian Jacques died this past Saturday, on 5 February 2011, of a heart attack.

We will greatly miss you.