I was raised on the Redwall book series (yes, this is not even the first post praising Redwall today) and I got them all so I could read them aloud to my daughter.
For those who don’t know, it’s a massive, multigenerational saga recounting the adventures of anthropomorphic woodland creatures, with swords and riddles and friendships and tragedy. It’s perfect for kids to transition into picking up reading more complex literature. I’m pretty sure Brian Jacques didn’t use any descriptor more than once in each book—love the vocabulary-building!
However, there are a few things I’ve noticed that trouble me about them. Main characters can sometimes tend to be Mary-Sue-ish, a few of the romantic interests are relegated to being ONLY that as characters (particularly for women) and there’s one book where one of the major themes is basically >!some species are simply born evil and you can’t change that, which has some *highly* problematic implications!<. Don’t get me wrong, for the most part these books are astounding and formative. Martin the Warrior >!was my safe introduction to grief and loss in elementary school.!<
I’ve been out of the kids books game for a while, and was hoping if anyone had any similar, newer book series, that explore some of the same concepts while avoiding a few of those more iffy things?
Thanks so much in advance!
by RPG_Major