Short and Sweet #1

While I will continue to strive to post reviews chock full of content I would also like to acknowledge books that I've liked, yet which I don't at the time have enough words about to fill a novel with.

Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks

It should be no surprise to anyone that I love to read. I prefer fiction but don't limit myself to any particular genre. Even YA and Children's books find themselves on my coffee table.

Another thing I'm a fan of is series. Epics, Pulp, Serials, it doesn't matter.

Recently I read three books for young readers which were the beginning of three respected series. The first was Redwall, a fantasy of woodland creatures.

The woodlanders of Mossflower woods live a Pastoral life under the care and protection of the brothers of Redwall Abbey. The hero, the young novice Matthias, dreams of the days of old when Martin the Warrior protected the Abbey. His dream becomes a nightmare, a real nightmare, when Cluny the Scourge and his army (long believed to be a myth) arrive on the scene.

Abbot Mortimer has lived his entire life as a healer and pacifist. His resignation of the fact that they must kill in order to survive shows a depth not often seen in children's books (not counting Harry Potter)

Besides exhibiting military skill Matthias is also required to solve riddles and follow quests to obtain the legendary sword used by Martin ages ago. But did Martin and the sword really exist? And even then, would the sword have survived all these ages without disappearing?

Redwall is sometimes gruesome and cold-blooded but such realism shouldn't be shielded from young readers.

Following Redwall I read a realistic animal story, The Black Stallion. I hadn't read it since I was 9 but I've watched the movie a bazillion times. I already know I love the movie, I wasn't surprised to find that, as usual, the book was much better.

Some differences from the movie include Alec's age (he's seventeen in the book, much younger on film) and his father doesn't die on the shipwreck. Alec and The Black survive a shipwreck off the Africa coast by helping each other. (Alec opened the stall door, The Black swam and carried Alec.) Alec eats seaweed to survive and gathers enough to keep the stallion fed. When Alec is rescued he insists on the Black coming with him.

Alec's neighbor in New York is Henry Daley who raced in his younger days and is happy to provide stable space. The racing bug bites him and Alec and they train The Black for the track. When the two fastest horses in America meet to determine which one's the best, Henry and Alec know the stallion would beat them both, but will they be able to race him without any papers?

Finally I went back to fantasy animals with Freddy Goes to Florida. Originally titled To and Again the title was changed in the 50s after Freddy starred in many sequels. Freddy's part in this first story was minor.

Unlike Redwall which focused on depth and realism the Freddy books are just straight up lite stories. In this first one the animals take a hint from the birds and travel South for the Winter. A few stay behind so that Farmer Bean isn't greatly inconvenienced and the rest go on a road trip.

Sometimes they have to escape unscrupulous men who want to use them on their own farms, but they also meet many who've read about their adventures and who offer assistance, including The President of the United States.

Their actual time in Florida isn't covered much, it's the trip To and Fro which is covered. The Action isn't gravely intense and younger readers should get through the chapters easily.

Future books in these three series will be covered under the Short and Sweet title. Master and Commander and Cod: A Biography will be given the full treatment soon.