Friday, October 19, 2007

Eulalia!

Brian Jacques has a brand-new release in the Redwall series! I am so excited! For some reason, I thought he was finished doing Redwall books. His last couple have been sequels to Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, so I just assumed that was the end of Basil Stag Hare!

I picked up a copy yesterday at Barnes & Noble, but haven't decided yet whether to read it in secret then give it to one of the boys for Christmas, or whether to publicize it now...hmmmm.

BTW, for those who don't know, "Eulalia!" is the battlecry of the good guys in Redwall...and the title of the new release - should be fun!

7 comments:

Mr. Dad said...

"Eulalia!" It's GREEK, of course = "good speaking" (cf. "glossalalia" = "speaking in tongues/languages").

(Also: "eulogy"... "euphemism"... euthanasia"... et al.)

Anonymous said...

Thank you, sir. I didn't know...COOL.

BTW, some Greek students at school just designed and ordered t-shirts that you would love. The front says "Morpheme Addict." Oh, crud...now I forget what the back says. It's quite clever though. I'll let you know...

Mr. Dad said...

P.S. Of course this "eu-" prefix shows up on a lot of English words—sometimes even slightly "disguised." As in the case of "evangelism," which is actually from "eu + angelion" = "good message."

jennifer h said...

We only have the first Redwall book. Your post reminded me of them, which is great because I can't keep up with N's reading addiction. I asked him this morning if he wanted more Redwall books, and he enthusiastically said yes.

Lori Waggoner said...

Cool. These should keep him busy for a while...even though they're fairly easy reading, they are several hundred pages long and there are lots of them!

Angie B. said...

I know nothing about the Redwall series...where should a newbie start? For what ages is it geared?

Lori Waggoner said...

The best thing is to "begin at the beginning and go on until you reach the end. Then stop." (Lewis Carroll) :-)

No, really - the book titled "Redwall" IS the best place to start. Although it is not the first chronologically, it is the first one Jacques wrote. From there I recommend reading them in the order he has written them, though each is able to stand on its own. I have done some out-of-sequence and understood them perfectly.

They are geared for 9-and-up (if read independently), but can be understood much sooner (5-and-up) if read aloud. He does use odd spelling to communicate accents, so I suggested in a previous post, to help a younger reader get started, read the voice aloud as they follow along. This helps them hear the voice in their head and makes it easier to read...those dialects can be tough at first, but they catch on.

If you read any, let me know what you think!