Mossflower (Brian Jacques)
Sometimes, an adult gets certain childhood cravings that simply can’t be ignored: hunger for a peanut butter and banana sandwich, the urge to give your significant other a wet willy or the comfort of curling up with your old, ratty teddy bear. Mossflower, to me, is that teddy bear.
I LOVED this book. I read most of the series in elementary school, and I re-read this prequel to the series at least two or three times. And I was in the library, walking past the YA section, and the thought of this book came into my head. This was one great kids book they hadn’t yet made a movie of (too bad). Did they still have it? Did kids still read it? I turned into the children’s section of the library to find out, and there it was, sitting on the shelf along with most of the rest of the series, sitting there to tell me that not much could be wrong with the world if kids are still reading about Martin the Warrior (mouse), Gonff the mischievous theif (mouse), Dinny (mole), Tsmarina (wildcat) and the other squirrels, otters, badgers, rabbits, weasels (gee, I wonder whether they are on the good or bad side, huh?) and more of Mossflower Woods.
No, it’s not complex writing. But the plot still feels decently original after all these years and the heart-warming effect I remember from so long ago was still there. I read it through in a matter of four days and it was a very fun retreat into fantasy. It’s a book I think should be required reading for kids aged about 10 or 12, though I don’t know if every adult would love this book the way I do. So much of their appeal to me is pure nostalgia, a craving for the lost days of childhood where I spent hours hidden in the stacks at the library and once read 2,000 pages in one month during a Book-It contest. So maybe this series will never make it among grown ups the way Harry Potter or others have. Maybe after a certain age, you’re never going to like this peanut butter and banana sandwiches if you didn’t first taste it in your youth.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Book club selection
Fiction, Young adult/Childrens |