Title: Redwall: The Graphic Novel
Author: Brian Jacques
Illustrator: Bret Blevins
Adapted by: Stuart Moore
Publisher: Philomel Books
Year: 2007
# Pages: 143
Category: Graphic Novel
Genre: Fantasy
My Summary & Critique:
Based on the award-winning novel, Redwall, published in 1986, the graphic novel brings the story alive in a new way, perhaps giving a different readership to this classic animal fantasy. Redwall is a story about a peaceful group of mice and other creatures who live in Redwall Abbey and are threatened by the evil one-eyed rat, Cluny the Scourge, who is bent on destroying them. The young mouse, Matthias, seeks to find a legendary sword, wielded long ago by Martin the Warrior, hero of the Abbey, in the hopes of defending Redwall against invasion by Cluny's evil forces. He faces dangerous adventures as follows the mysterious clues leading him to the sword and in the process finds heroic qualities within himself that match those of legend.
Redwall: The Graphic Novel provides an exciting story filled with honor, duty, good versus evil, friendship, loyalty, and courage. The graphic novel format opens up this story to readers who might have been bogged down in the detailed language of the original work and introduces them to this intriguing story through pictures and dialogue that propel them to keep reading. The black and white pictures effectively communicate the light vs. dark theme taking place in the story and the characters are believable and alive through the artwork. Overall, I would highly recommend this story to young adult readers who enjoy fantasy, action, and tales of honor and courage. In the classroom, Redwall could be used in lieu of reading the traditional novel or could be used in a comparison/contrast of the original work. Comparisons could also be made to similar works, such as the other graphic novel I reviewed, Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, . Students could explore how good and evil are portrayed through the story and artwork and could draw several conclusions about what types of lessons the author is trying to convey. Themes of friendship, loyalty, protection, destiny would be good topics of discussion. Also, both the hero and the villain have dreams of the legendary Martin the Warrior that could be compared. Overall, this version is an excellent use of the graphic novel format to bring an excellent original story to a wider audience.
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