Yes, this is a picture of Brian Jacques. Yes, you may ask why the author of the Redwall books is in my most recent post. I'll tell you. He was in Eugene on Saturday and I got to go to Barnes and Noble and see him. He gave a half-hour presentation and then signed books. I learned a lot about him... One, his last name is pronounce JAKES! I have always wondered that. Two, he has a delightful way with the kids. All the kids were sitting on the floor up front and he talked mostly to them. A few of the jokes were above their heads, but they enjoyed his story telling.

He explained that he originally wrote Redwall for a school of the blind kids. That's why there's such a richness of description in his books. He was painting a picture with words. To illustrate that, he quoted the description of Cluny the Scourge. Now that was a treat! He did a great job of acting the parts and doing the narrative (You've got to figure that he's done this hundreds of times, but still, this seemed fresh).

Think of a jolly old man who loves telling tales to kids and you've got a good picture of who Brian Jacques is.

Needless to say, I enjoyed that afternoon.