"It's Jakes, rhymes with Cakes" Mr. Brian Jacques told me the first time I met him. I was probably 14, about to go to High school and I loved Redwall. I wanted to be a mouse and live there in the Abby... much more than go to school where I felt like I failed at everything.
In truth I wasn't a bad student, maybe bad at math, but when you're that age and shy everything seems like you could have done it better. That was one of the reasons I loved to read. Reading took me away from who and where I was. I was rescued by books, shaped by the stories in them, and with one in hand I never felt alone. That is also one of the reasons I wanted to write, I feel it's my duty to give back to the world that saved me. To write books that in turn reach out and rescue someone else who won't bloom for a few more years, someone who feels alone and someone who is more than they seem.
One of the other reasons I love Brian Jacques, besides his writing, is that he also did so many other things before he was published that it makes my strange resume look coherent. After finishing school at age 15 he became a merchant seaman, then he worked as a railway fireman, a longshoreman, a long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a bobby (Police Constable 216D), a postmaster, and a stand-up comic. He first met the blind children who inspired his first stories when he delivered milk to their school as a truck driver. He began to spend time with the children, and eventually began to write stories for them.
He also shares my love of mice as the noblest of creatures. I have most of his books, all of the Redwall novels and I fully intend to round up my collection. His work is timeless and it stays with me even though it has been years and years since I last read his work.
(15 June 1939- 5 February 2011)
The world has lost one of its greats.
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