The Ribbajack: And Other Haunting Tales (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
Chris BancellsJacques, B. (2004). The ribbajack & other curious yarns. New York: Puffin Books. Short StoryPrintSelection tools consulted: School Library Journal, WorldCat, Review:Best known for his Redwall series, Brian Jacques turns his prolific pen to a darker set of stories in this volume. Six stories wander over the course of a couple centuries, and what appears to be much of the Irish countryside. "The Ribbajack", clearly the best of the bunch, takes place at a British boarding school in 1937. The malevolent Archibald Smifft discovers how to produce a terrible monster spawned by his own imagination. When he sets the creature "born out of human spite" (p.18) on a perceived enemy, the consequences are dire. In "A Smile and a Wave" the contemporary teen Maggie is forced to enter her empty school to retrieve a forgotten coat. In doing so, she encounters a piece of Britain’s haunted past. This story is notable for Jacques' ability to wonderfully describe the foreboding brought on by an unnaturally empty hall. "The All Ireland Champion Versus the Nye Add" is an Irish fairy story in the most traditional sense. An average man, who has a bit of local notoriety, runs afoul of a mythical creature and does not come out better for it. In this case, great fisherman Roddy Mooney tries to hook the "Nye Add" and gets his line tangled in more ways than one. "The Mystery of Huma D'Este" follows a similar pattern, although there is a much greater sense of justice in the Greek-inspired fate of school bully Jason Hunter. "Miggy Mags and the Malabar Sailor" has nothing of the supernatural about it, but instead relates a Dickensian-style tale in which a young girl gets her heart's desire after escaping an overbearing grown-up. Finally, "Rosie's Pet" is a short, oddly sweet story of young love with a lupine twist. It's sure to give Twilight fans a smile. All in all, Jacques' collection isn't scary so much as it is entertaining and, well, curious. It makes for a good, if not totally absorbing, read, especially by the light of a dim lamp. Recommended.
The late Brian Jacques, Liverpool author of the "Redwall" series (begun in 1986, and ending with the posthumous release of "The Rogue Crew" in March pf 2011), should have received the world-wide acclaim that J.K. Rowling justly received for the "Harry Potter" novels two decades later. Jacques' powerful sense of narrative, his richly-developed characters, and his unerring ability to judge where to draw the line between keeping a children's story childlike, yet intelligent enough both to educate the child for adulthood, and to keep that child entertained, were a quality too rarely found in children's writers.Occasionally, though, Jacques turned his attention to other written works. In this collection of children's short-stories, Jacques exercised his inner-Stephen King, but in the form of a good campfire ghost-story. (He was still writing for kids here.) With the crisp, uncluttered style that was his trademark, Jacques tells six tales that will be likely to keep your children sleeping with the light on for at least a few nights. And wasn't that part of the fun of growing up for most of us?
What do You think about The Ribbajack: And Other Haunting Tales (2006)?
I may be jumping the gun on this one, as I have one last short story to read, but based on the first five stories alone, I can say that I enjoy the late Mr. Jacques's YA horror stories. As popular as his Redwall books are, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that this is the first of his books I've picked up, and that the only reason I bought it is that our library was selling it for $0.50 the day I went to hear Rick Yancey speak about his then-upcoming Monstrumologist sequel a couple Octobers ago. I decided to finish it this month because I have about 30 kids'/YA titles to read before this year's All Hallow's Read, including some classics I unfortunately missed out on as a kid. I only hope I enjoy the others as much as this I have this one!UPDATE: I just finished the last story, and I stand by my 4-star review. I really enjoyed the last story, as I did all of them!
—Roy Hudson
By the author of the Redwall series, these were a lot of fun to read! Though I didn't think they were as good as the Redwall books, I did enjoy reading this collection of stories that were not about Jacques' signature animal characters. If you want something to read on a quiet evening, then this book of scary stories is for you! My favorite was the Medusa tale, but I think Jacques put just as much thought into these yarns as he did in his Redwall collection. Fans of his work will notice some similarity in people's dialects here as were voiced by the Redwall characters.
—Piepie Beuttel
The Ribbajack is a short story that follows the swashbuckling theme that Brian Jacques uses in almost all his books. The story has the feel of a folk tale and teaches a moral at the end of the story. I have always been a fan of Brian Jacques stories and this one did not disappoint me. It was a little different in its character development due to the brief nature of the story.The tale is of a boy who is as bad as can be. The whole school is afraid of him and he dabbles in the dark arts. When someone finally stands up to him he decides to get his revenge. He is going to learn, however, that when you seek out revenge it is usually you that pays the price.
—Tim
