The Redwall series was originally written by Jacques for the students of the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. This is pretty well documented, from the official website (click on "About Brian" and scroll down):
Brian wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool, where as a truck driver, he delivered milk. In appreciation of his first audience, he made his style of writing as descriptive as possible, "painting pictures with words" as he termed it, hoping the schoolchildren could engage with his tales in their imaginations. He was to become a long term friend and supporter of the school, serving as a board member and raising funds through a variety of charitable events.
To a Washington Post obituary:
"I thought, 'What's wrong with a little bit of magic in their [the students'] lives?' " Mr. Jacques said.
He spent every night of the following seven months writing a mystical 800-page tale, which he scrawled longhand on recycled paper and kept in a grocery bag.
However, I haven't been able to find any information on what the students themselves thought of the book or the series in general. I assume Jacques would have provided copies or done a reading, especially since it seems he didn't plan to publish the book widely at first.
Is there a record of any of the students reading Redwall (or any later book in the series), and what they thought of the book? Did they enjoy the carefully descriptive writing as Jacques hoped for?
