When I was in fifth grade, I discovered and fell in love with Brian Jacques’ world of Redwall. The first book I clapped my eyes on was Salamandastron at that year’s Scholastic Book Fair, and the cover alone had most of us young fellows itching to buy it. There may have even been a stratagem devised to hide copies of the book behind other books in an effort to ensure copies would be available.
And that was that.
After I’d read through Salamandastron, Jacques’ fifth in the series, I went looking for the first book, Redwall, and then each subsequent book after that. And while I haven’t read all twenty-two books in the series, the world and its characters have had a significant impact on my desire to tell stories.
Imagine my delight then to learn that Netflix is adapting Redwall and then later Martin the Warrior into animated films done by Patrick McHale (creator of Cartoon Network’s Over the Garden Wall). No word yet on when the first film will drop, but I’m certainly keeping a close eye on news of its development.
Ryan L. Purdy 