The Mighty Brian Jacques

A mouse is small and can go unnoticed: but there is no limit to what a brave heart and a fearless spirit can achieve.

It’s easy to get carried away when someone well known dies, to over glamourise them. They are, after all, human beings like the rest of us. But sometimes a person dies who has brought so much joy and delight to you, from afar, that it is hard not to be upset. And so, when I read about the death of author Brian Jacques, of a heart attack aged 71, I just sat there, lost for words. So, having had a think, here are some of my words on the works of the man who was a master wordsmith.

There are a select few writers to whom I would attribute my love of reading. Enid Blyton, Franklyn W.Dixon, Terrance Dicks and Willard Price form four of the top five. The fifth was Brian Jacques. Jacques created a world within our own world, one involving not the human race but all the animals in the woods and forests around us. At a very base level they are about the battle of good against evil. The mice, badgers, voles: the heroes. The weasels and foxes: the villains. Sounds simple, but they were written with such love and care that these small animals were as easy to love and cheer for as the Famous Five, the Hardy Boys and Hal and Roger. Martin the Warrior and Matthias are fantastically brave animals, going into battle where they must surely lose. It is David versus Goliath, and sacrifices will be made. The villains have such fantastic names too; Feragho the Assassin, Slagar the Fox. Such tremendous evil is conjured up in those names. There is no middle ground in this world, it is entirely about good versus evil, and as a child they are the most thrilling stories to read.

His novels nourished my love of stories, and his novels are ones that should be read by all children. His works have lasted for twenty five years, and will continue to do so. And if you think that stories of mice, badgers and foxes are absurd and unreal, read Redwall, the first in the series, and then tell me that Basil Stag Hare isn’t one of the greatest literary creations of all time. In fact, I might just go and get it off the shelf now myself.