A cookbook of Redwall recipes and a picture book for younger readers are also in preparation. Some bookstores have arranged for his appearances in larger settings like a church in the Kansas City area or a county public library. Some parents have told us they're going to take their children out of school to come. I'm expecting anywhere from 100 to 200 children. He appeals to kids in the fourth through ninth grades, which is a very tricky time because that's when they start losing interest in reading.
Children come dressed in their favorite character's costumes.
Parents and young readers have whipped up his meadowcream cake confections and offered him gift-baskets during his signings. And now, as a Princeton University sophomore, he said he still devoured the newest volumes to relax. Constance, the badger guardian of Redwall, is his grandmother. The mousemaid Mariel is his elder granddaughter, Jade. But the chapters of his own life have not always ended in clear-cut triumphs.