Mattimeo (Redwall Series #3)

by Brian Jacques, Gary Chalk (Illustrator)

Overview

The Redwall series is soon to be a Netflix original movie!

The heroic adventures of Redwall continue with another epic tale overflowing with valorous personality, from the beloved, bestselling saga.

Slagar the Fox is determined to vanquish peaceable Redwall. Gathering his mercenary band of rats, stoats, and weasels, he advances upon the abbey with a cunning scheme: rather than making courageous battle plans, he will steal the children of Redwall from under their parents' very noses. And his prize captive will be Mattimeo, the headstrong young son of Matthias, the fearless mouse warrior!

Perfect for fans of T. A. Barron’s Merlin saga, John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142302408
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/31/2003
Series:	Redwall Series
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	45,072
Product dimensions:	5.13(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.85(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Brian Jacques (www.redwallabbey.com) was born in Liverpool in 1939. He left school at age fifteen and found work as a docker, a truck driver, a policeman and a stand-up comic, all before turning his attention to writing. He wrote his first novel, Redwall, for the children at a school for the blind in Liverpool. Since 1986, his descriptive style of writing has captivated readers from age 8 to 80. His books have won international awards and acclaim and have been made into a TV series.


 

Date of Birth:

June 15, 1939

Date of Death:

February 5, 2011

Place of Birth:

Liverpool, England

Place of Death:

Liverpool, England

Education:

St. John¿s School, Liverpool, England

Website:

http://www.redwall.org

Read an Excerpt

Book One

Slagar The Cruel

From the diary of John Churchmouse, historian and recorder of Redwall Abbey in Mossflower country.

We are close to the longest day of this season, the Summer of the Golden Plain. Today I took up my ledger and quill to write. It was cool and dim in the quiet of my little study indoors. With a restless spirit I sat, quill in paw, listening to the merry din outside in the sunlit cloisters of our Abbey. I could no longer stand the solitude, that happy sound of revelry drew me outside, yet there was still my recorder's duties to catch up with. Taking ledger and quill, I went out, up the stairs to the top of the outer wall, directly over the Warrior's Cottage, which is the gatehouse at the threshold of Redwall Abbey.

What a glorious day! The sky, painted special blue for the summer, had not a cloud or shadow anywhere, the hot eye of the sun caused bees to drone lazily, while grasshoppers chirruped and sawed endlessly. Out to the west, the great plains stretched away, shimmering and dancing with heat waves to the distant horizon, a breathtaking carpet of kingcup and dandelion mingled with cowslip, never had we ever seen so many yellow blossoms. Abbot Mordalfus named it the Summer of the Golden Plain. What a wise choice. I could see him ambling round the comer by the bell tower, his habit sleeves rolled well up, panting as he helped young woodlanders to carry out forms for seating at the great feast, our eighth season of peace and plenty since the wars.

Otters swam lazily in the Abbey pond, culling edible water plants (but mostly gambolling and playing. You know what otters are like). Small hedgehogs and moles werearound the back at the east side orchard. I could hear them singing as they gathered ripening berries or collected early damsons, pears, plums and apples, which the squirrels threw down to them from the high branches. Pretty little mousemaids and baby voles tittered and giggled whilst choosing table flowers, some making bright posies which they wore as hats. Frequently a sparrow would thrum past my head, carrying some morsel it had found or caught (though I cannot imagine any creature but a bird eating some of the questionable items a sparrow might find). The Foremole and his crew would arrive shortly to dig a baking pit. Meanwhile, the bustle and life of Redwall carried on below me, framed at the back by our beloved old Mossflower Woods. High, green and serene, with hardly a breeze to stir the mighty fastness of leafy boughs, oak, ash, elm, beech, yew, sycamore, hornbeam, fir and willow, mingled pale, dusty, dark and light green hues, the varied leaf shapes blending to shelter and frame the north and east sides of our walls.

Only two days to the annual festivities. I begin to feel like a giddy young woodlander again! However, being historian and recorder, I cannot in all dignity tuck up the folds of my habit and leap down among the merrymakers. I will finish my writings as quickly as possible then. Who knows, maybe I'll stroll down to join some of the elders in the cellar. I know they will be sampling the October ale and blackcurrant wine set by from other seasons, just to make sure it has kept its taste and temperature correctly, especially the elderberry wine of last autumn's pressing. You understand, of course, that I am doing this merely to help out old friends.

John Churchmouse (Recorder of Redwall Abbey, formerly of Saint Ninian's)

Afternoon sunlight slanted through the gaps in the ruined walls and roof of Saint Ninian's old church, highlighting the desolation of weed and thistle growing around broken, rotted pews. A small cloud of midges dispersed from dizzy circling as Slagar brushed by them. The fox peered through a broken door timber at the winding path of dusty brown which meandered aimlessly southward to meet the woodland fringe on the eastern edge.

Slagar watched silently, his ragged breath sucking in and out at the purple-red diamond-patterned skull mask which covered his entire head. When he spoke, it was a hoarse, rasping sound, as if he had received a terrible throat injury at some time.

"Here they come. Get that side door open, quick!"

A long coloured cart with rainbow-hued covering was pulled into the church by a dozen or so wretched creatures chained to the wagon shaft. A stoat sat on the driver's platform. He slashed at the haulers savagely with a long thin willow withe.

"Gee up, put yer backs into it, me beauties!"

The cart was followed by a rabble of ill-assorted vermin: stoats, ferrets and weasels, garbed the same as their comrades who were already waiting with Slagar.

Afternoon sunlight slanted through the gaps in the ruined walls and roof of Saint Ninian's old church, highlighting the desolation of weed and thistle growing around broken, rotted pews. A small cloud of midges dispersed from dizzy circling as Slagar brushed by them. The fox peered through a broken door timber at the winding path of dusty brown which meandered aimlessly southward to meet the woodland fringe on the eastern edge.

Slagar watched silently, his ragged breath sucking in and out at the purple-red diamond-patterned skull mask which covered his entire head. When he spoke, it was a hoarse, rasping sound, as if he had received a terrible throat injury at some time.

"Here they come. Get that side door open, quick!"

A long coloured cart with rainbow-hued covering was pulled into the church by a dozen or so wretched creatures chained to the wagon shaft. A stoat sat on the driver's platform. He slashed at the haulers savagely with a long thin willow withe.

"Gee up, put yer backs into it, me beauties!"

The cart was followed by a rabble of ill-assorted vermin: stoats, ferrets and weasels,...

Mattimeo. Copyright © by Brian Jacques. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

Redwall fans can get a double dose of the fantasy series: Mattimeo is the sequel to the original novel Redwall, while Long Patrol is the 10th in the sequence. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In this sequel to the animal fantasy Redwall (1987), and its prequel, Mossflower , (1988, both Philomel), Slagar the Cruel, the fox with a twisted mind, repays the hospitality of his hosts, the goodhearted animals of Redwall Abbey, by kidnapping their children. Led by the young mouse Mattimeo (son of the warrior Matthias, hero of Redwall ), the children befriend their fellow captives Auma Badger and Jube Hedgehog as they march toward slavery in the underground rat kingdom of Malkarris. Meanwhile, Matthias leads a rescue mission that joins forces with the fathers of Auma and Jube, and despite brushes with defeat, their camaraderie and good humor never fail. ln a third strand of action, the animals left at Redwall Abbey are besieged by villainous crows. While the book is long and its cast large, the twists of plot and quick changes of scene sweep readers along a swift narrative current. Some readers, however, will question the unabashed celebration of a warrior code, the sentimental acceptance of battle deaths, and the predictable scoundrels. The characters, compared with those in Wind in the Willows , Watership Down , and the picture books of Beatrix Potter, are bland, remaining far too human to become that mythic hybrid of human and animal. Nevertheless, libraries with an audience for the previous books will want this one, too. --Margaret A. Chang, Buxton School, Williamstown, MA

School Library Journal

Praise for the Redwall series
 
“Brian Jacques has the true fantasy writer’s ability to create a wholly new and believable world.” –School Library Journal
 
 “The medieval world of Redwall Abbey—where gallant mouse warriors triumph over evil invaders—has truly become the stuff of legend.” –Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
 “A grand adventure story. Once the reader is hooked, there is no peace until the final page.” –Chicago Sun-Times
 
 “Jacques’s effortless, fast-paced narrative gets its readers quickly hooked. He clearly loves this other world he has created—there’s a genius sense of involvement and care (lots of lovingly descriptive passages), as well as an overflowing, driving imagination.” –Birmingham Post
 
“Redwall is both an incredible and ingratiating place, one to which readers will doubtless cheerfully return.” –New York Times Book Review
 
 “An excellent adventure with an enlightened conscience. Brilliantly complex. With vibrant and distinct animal characters, Jacques’s classically inspired plot-weaving achieves virtuosity.” –Publishers Weekly
 
 “Only a churl would reject this morality play in fur.” –Kirkus Reviews
 
“Filled with the kind of vibrant storytelling that fans of Jacques have come to expect. His dialogue is lively and delightful to read aloud…so rich in detail that the sights and sounds and smells of the adventure pull the reader in.” –Grand Rapids Press (MI)
 
 “A richly imagined world in which bloody battles vie for attention with copious feasting and tender romancing. Where males and females are hero's and warriors. Where the young triumph and the old endure. Where intelligence is as valued as strength and wit is frequently more important than size…[Jacques] continues to surprise and delight with intriguing plots and fresh faces.” –Cincinnati Enquirer
 
 “The Knights of the Round Table with paws.” –The Sunday Times (London)

From the Publisher

This episode in the popular series concludes the adventures of the peaceful creatures of Redwall Abbey. Slagar, the evil fox, kidnaps the children of the abbey. Among those taken is Mattimeo, son of the warrior mouse Matthias. Young Mattimeo must find his inner strength in order to help the others survive the trials and hardships of captivity. Magnificently read by the author and a full cast, the production is one of exuberant performances as the woodland inhabitants endure a forced march to slavery in the rat kingdom and suffer heartbreaking defeats and glorious victories in the battle sequences. Musical underscoring is used to good advantage, never distracting from Jacques’s exquisite descriptive language or the enthusiastic performances of the cast. Thrilling storytelling for Redwall-Mossflower fans. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

DEC 04/JAN 05 - AudioFile