From young scribe to successful author

At the age of 10, Brian Jacques figured out his true identity.

It was all because of a creative-writing assignment handed out in his class at St. John's, an inner-city school in Liverpool, England. Young Brian came up with a tale about a bird that cleaned crocodile teeth. But sometime after he submitted the imaginative yarn, his teacher pounced, demanding to know, "Where did you copy this from?"

The child fiercely stood his ground, insisting he was the rightful author. But his teacher just scoffed: "Boys of 10 do not write like this." Then he was offered a deal of sorts: If he would confess to being a liar, he'd save himself a caning. Brian refused and stoically took the punishment. "I knew then I was a writer," he says, adding wryly it was a painful way to learn the truth.

That Brian Jacques, author of the phenomenally successful epic "Redwall" series, now makes his living as an internationally acclaimed writer is remarkable, given the fact he was forced by financial concerns to drop out of school at the age of 15. Over the years, he has worn a variety of hats: merchant seaman, longshoreman, long-distance truck driver, bus driver, boxer, "bobby" (Police Constable 216D), stand-up comic, actor, folk singer and radio personality. Yet he most loves to call himself a "teller of tales."

He is best known for the "Redwall" series, a now 12-book epic about a diverse group of animal characters, which has attracted fans ages 9 to 90. "I don't just write for kids," he says. "I write for the child in everybody."

Stuffed to the gills with arduous quests, action-packed battles, and scrumptious feasts, the stories are written to thrill and delight. But don't try calling them fantasy, because Jacques wholeheartedly rejects the label. "I like my books to be called good yarns," he insists.

His latest addition to the series, "The Legend of Luke" (Philomel, $22.95, ages 9 and up) is a prequel to "Redwall." It focuses on Martin, the famed warrior mouse credited with defending Redwall Abbey.

In this installment, Martin and a handful of off-beat cronies return to the setting of Martin's youth: an unforgiving backdrop near the North Sea. Desperate to learn more about his father, a warrior named Luke, Martin holds on to a tenuous hope that this journey will offer some answers.

At 48, Jacques wrote "Redwall," the first book in the series, for a group of students attending the Royal Wavetree School for the Blind, where he was volunteering as a storyteller. Because he was writing for blind kids, he purposely tried to paint clear pictures with his words so they could truly "see" his imaginary world.

He took particular pleasure in describing mouth-watering feasts, prominently featured throughout the "Redwall" series. Good food is important to Jacques, because "I was a hungry child," he says. Born in 1939, he still has vivid memories of the food shortages in Liverpool during World War II.

He's not going hungry now. While he was still volunteering at the School for the Blind, luck tapped on his shoulder when an admirer named Alan Durband (a former schoolteacher of Paul McCartney) secretly submitted "Redwall" to a publisher. Soon after that, the storyteller found himself with a five-book contract - hard-won redemption for an unjust beating.

In spinning his yarns, Jacques has chosen to cast anthropomorphic creatures, because to his mind animals are "better people than people." They are "more identifiable to children," he says. And it appears even some of the toughest kids relate to them.

Lately, Jacques has been receiving enthusiastic fan mail from a group of teenage boys in a Florida correctional center, who originally snubbed the thought of stories riddled with mice. More than likely, these boys became hooked on the detailed battle scenes. Because it would be an understatement to note: Jacques doesn't pull any punches.

When asked if he ever worried about how children might be responding to the violence in his books, the author managed to convey - even over the phone - a polite sort of impatience with the question. He is quick to point out it is the adults who always ask him this, not the kids.

"You want violence, go read the Bible," he chimes in, with a touch of merriment. He does contend there is no gratuitous violence in the "Redwall" series. As far as he is concerned, "The baddies get what they deserve."

Fans will be excited to learn that along with "The Legend of Luke," Jacques has two more books coming out in the next year. "Lord Brocktree," another addition to the "Redwall" series, will be released this August. And he's got something completely new in the works: a story with human characters for a change, due out next January.

In his roguish lilt, Jacques asked me if I thought the tentative title for this book in progress - "Castaways of the Flying Dutchman" - made it sound like a good yarn. Breaking into a grin he couldn't see across the phone lines, I had to concur it did.

This teller of tales may lack a formal education, but he'd hardly describe himself as uneducated. "I've always read," he says, firmly believing books gave him all of the schooling he needed. And these days Jacques is bent on helping kids discover the joy of reading for themselves. During author appearances he is often known to say, "You keep reading my books, and I'll keep writing them - just for you."

Kari Wergeland reviews children's literature the last Sunday of each month in the Books section of The Seattle Times.

------------------------- Readings by Brian Jacques

Brian Jacques will read from and discuss the "Redwall" series next week in the Seattle area at these locations:

-- 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the King County Library System's Valley View Library, 17850 Military Road South, Sea-Tac. Information: 206-242-6044.

-- 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday at King County's Bellevue Regional Library, 1111 110th Ave. N.E., Bellevue. Information: 425-450-1765.

-- 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Elliott Bay Book Co., 101 S. Main St., Seattle. Information: 206-624-6600.

-- At 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kane Hall at the University of Washington. Sponsored by University Book Store. Information: 206-545-4365.