Just read one of those great Redwall chapters where they have a feast and I get to read out loud to my kids all of the funny dishes they eat. "Strawberry cordial" and "October Nutbrown ale" are always big favorites for mice and moles and muskrats, it appears. "Acorn flan" was another funny one. Another great part here was all of the singing that went on. There was a long passage where animals were trading off songs and I got to guess at melodies for them as I sang them to the kids. I was better than average this time. One exciting moment comes when the mousemaid hears one of the songs/poems and realizes that it is about her and her father, and it jars something in her memory--and then the chapter ends. The books is so good at keeping the suspense up.
Elsewhere, Gabool the Wild is up to his old tricks. A fleet of angry pirate searats descend upon his island fort but he manages to gain their loyalty by throwing around a lot of treasure. Great scene where he at first gives away his prized sword to a lowly searat to make himself look generous, and then, right before the poor little pirate rat leaves the room, Gabool manages to snag it back from him.
Also a nice little fight between toads and the renegade searats that have run away from Gabool. They are looking for fresh water on the mainland when they start getting speared by the toad's tridents. The toads always have funny voices and I love reading them out loud. Graypatch's pirate rats manage to escape, but Gabool's ships are right behind them. You know there is going to be some kind of chase at sea. I wonder if they have cannons and there will be a sea battle.
Such a fun book, still. This was one of those chapters that made me wonder what kind of kids book it was supposed to be, though. At these feasts, the animals don't actually get drunk, but they do drink a lot. Maybe the book is about responsible consumption. The violence is pretty heavy at times, too, and I have to pause and change words here and there. Birk is so on top of the vocabulary, though, always stopping to ask me "what does indignation mean?" or "what's a comrade?" June Apple has started answering him, too, because she thinks my explanations are too long.
Anyway, a good section. ****
No comments:
Post a Comment