Since January our family has been traveling through Mossflower country with author Brian Jacques. His series, which begins with RedWall (Putnam, $16.95; Avon, 4.99), is the most involving family read we've experienced. The books are so difficult to put down that we read to and from school, on dog walks, and while taking out the garbage. I even talked my reluctant-to-read, ten-year-old son into continuing chapters as I cooked. The characters have moved into our house. We imagine how they might handle situations, banter in "mole speech", guess at possible conclusions and wonder what Brian Jacques will write next.

At first look the books appear intimidatingly long, but the chapters are short and it doesn't take but a chapter or two to get hooked on the stories of a valiant brand of mice who fight for freedom against villainous rats, foxes, weasels and stoats. Recently released is Mariel of Redwall, a strong warrior mousemaid who does battle against Gabool, the Wild, a murderous sea rat. (Ages 9 and up, Putnam, $17.95)

Our family isn't alone in our admiration of Jacques. Kids across the country flocked to his latest round of signings, hanging on his every word while he recited from his novels. This is particularly astounding for an audience that is notorious for being uninvolved readers. Like the kids, I took advantage Brian Jacques' U.S. tour, to satisfy my curiosity about the man behind the mice.

The first story I'd heard about Brian Jacques was that he'd begun his fiction career by writing stories for the blind. This made perfect sense to me. His well-selected detailing creates backdrops that satisfy every sense, anchor fast-moving story lines and authenticate characters that are bigger than life. Jacques was as vivid in interview as he is in his stories. Instead of a fantasy writer, he wishes to be defined as "a teller of tales, a man who writes a good yarn." When asked what character he most identifies with, he responded immediately, "I'm Gonff", the master storyteller/thief featured most strongly in Mossflower, but celebrated in all the books. Jacques' stories flowed, strong in Liverpool accent, colorful in images, even in casual conversation.

Brian Jacques knows why his books succeed so well with kids who aren't given to reading. He notes that his chapters are short and pithy and each ends with "the stagecoach going over the edge of the cliff." As he writes he visualizes himself as a kid, viewing matinee serials, "getting splinters in me bum, in the old flea pit back home...not knowing what I'd see coming up."

Like old-time serial writers, Jacques "keeps a lot of balls in the air" He has diverse character plots with lots going on and splits his chapters into two halves of action creating an "edge of the seat timing" that keeps kids reading.

To Brian Jacques, pleasing children is what matters most. To him, medals from adult critics don't matter, "a gnat's bum", but the the medals judged by children are a different story. He honors his obligation to kids by creating strong tales threaded with good and evil that feature heros and heroines that kids want to be like. The values of a warrior's honesty shine through the small creatures who pull themselves up by their own boot straps and find the magic within themselves, not their weapons, to triumph. Brian Jacques sees all the mice protagonists in his books as ten to twelve year old kids and kids see themselves as the mice, too. Without moralizing, his characters give object lessons that resound through story, delivering power rather than preaching.

Jacques shows his commitment to kids in the clarity with which he structures his tale. He writes no gray areas, there are no "sympathetic baddies and schizophrenic" goodies. His characters are easily identifiable. The "goodies" are small, noble squirrels and badgers, the persecuted animals in his native England. For the "baddies", Jacques draws from European folk tales for ruthless sly foxes and slippery snakes. He saves children from wondering and they can get on with the story.

There's a great deal more to Jacques' stories than plots. Philosophy and psychology runs deep in characters and plots. His books do not begin with once upon a time and they don't end with with a pat happily ever after. Often a favorite character dies, but the animals accept this as part of life and they all do live happily on. With his character's reactions, Brian Jacques plants seeds of a reassuring philosophy of life for young readers; "People are like animals," he says, "they live and they die. And animals are like people, they die and they live. The season renew themselves and don't worry too much about it."

There's a lot of play in the series, too. Though each title can be read separately, there's lots of fun in being able to cross reference characters and events that appear in different books. Kids are much more concerned about what stories come first, Jacques just concerns himself with writing.

Although the the first three books, Redwall, Mossflower (Putnam, $16.95; Avon, $4.95) and Mattimeo (Putnam, $16.95; Avon, $4.99), have many strong female characters, all feature male heros. In Mariel of Redwall, Jacques creates a heroine mostly because people kept asking for one and he didn't want to be accused of being chauvinistic. Mariel proves he's far from a chauvinist because there's little to differentiate Mariel from male heros: she's brave, intelligent, strong, adventurous and bent on defeating evil.

Perhaps the best part of my interview with Brian Jacques was finding out that he's just completed a new book entitled Salamandastron featuring Stripe, a warrior/questing badger who's had only cameo appearances thus far. And after that he plans to write about the greatest of all Mossflower heros, Martin the Warrior. Brian Jacques is determined to keep himself and his readers happy for a long time. "I love to go into my world of Redwall and Mossflower. They are my special places. While I feel there are stories to write about, that's what I must do. I can't let my readers down."

©Susie Wilde 1998