New Favorites

Dude, where have been? I've read so many books since my last post that I don't know where to start. Here are some favorites.

King Arthur and his knights of the round table. Many Arthur stories tell about King Arthur's destiny to become king of Britain. This one also tells about Arthur's knights, their quests and heroic deeds. I especially like Sir Gareth, who struck down the Red Knight of the Red Lawns (in an awesome way). This book, a Puffin Classic by Roger Lancelyn Green, also has a cool sword on the cover.

Mossflower. I have read several more Redwall books now. My favorite so far is Mossflower. It takes place at Brockhall, a hole in the roots of a tree where many mice and other creatures live and feast, and I really like this new setting. And the villain is a wildcat, which is cool.

Warriors: The New Prophecy. I finished this series over the summer. I like it because the cats have so many different personalities. Some are good leaders, some are loyal to their clan or owner, others are ambitious troublemakers who try to kill their own leader - you know who you are, Mudclaw!

Beowulf (Morpurgo/Foreman)

In this book, author Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman retell the story of Beowulf.

Beowulf is a Viking warrior, prince of the Geats. He goes to help the Danes, who are suffering torture from Grendel, a giant, goblin-reptile monster of the night. He slays the GGRM, as I like to call him, but when he does more trouble comes. Beowulf has to fight a sea-hag (it's GGRM's mother). BUT! if he kills the sea-hag, he will have to fight his match: a dragon. Will Beowulf defeat these totally sweet monsters? Will he lose and die? Or both? I'm not going to give it all away.

By the way, my favorite character is the dragon. He's a giant, fire-breathing salamander (GFBS?). Cool.

Warriors Book I: Into the Wild

The main cat is Firepaw or Rusty (Rusty is his "kitty-pet" name; Firepaw is his Thunderclan name). One day, Rusty goes out into the woods to hunt for mice and runs into some cats (meow!) instead. He finds out that many other cats live in the big world near his house! In all there are 4 warrior-cat clans: Riverclan, Windclan, Shadowclan, and Thunderclan, which Rusty joins that same day.

My favorite clan is Thunderclan because they live in the forest: healthier land = healthier clan. Well, if I were a Warrior that's the clan I would want to be in. I'd rather eat bunnies and mice than diseased animals and rats! Yuck.

Unlike in the Redwall books, there are humans in the Warriors books. Cats call humans Twolegs. Warriors don't usually trust the kitty-pet cats that live with Twolegs; Rusty has to work hard to earn their trust. In the end, he proves himself worthy. In fact, it is Firepaw upon whom an important prophecy rests: Firepaw must save Thuderclan from danger!

Redwall (Book I)

Okay. These books are awesome. Thank you, Brian Jacques!

Redwall books are my all time favorite. Right now I'm on the fourth one, so I will go back and tell you about Book I.

It's medieval times, but instead of humans there are mice, rats, weasels, and so on. Redwall is an abbey (a church and surrounding buildings) where mice monks from the woodland live. In the first book the abbot's name is Mortimer; he's a wise man who takes care of the abbey and the mice monks. He gives the orders while the warrior does the jobs. Matthias is the main warrior in this book. I like him because he is brave and persistent. His friend, Basil Stag Hare, is really funny because he calls everyone funny names, and he eats a LOT, more than everybody - even badgers. Oh, and I almost forgot Cluny! He's the main bad guy, actually he's a rat. Cluny has a rat army and takes over Redwall Abbey for a little bit...but I won't spoil the story by telling you how that turns out!