Rowan of Rin

Over the summer break, I decided to re-read a bunch of Emily Rodda books that were lying around the house. I'm starting a Children's Literature unit at uni this semester, and thought it'd be useful to refresh my knowledge of a few of my favourites as a child.

I hadn't read any of these books in over ten years. I started with Deltora Quest, mainly because I'd only read it once, but also because I thought it'd be good fuel for D&D. I enjoyed quite thoroughly, and even continued into the second and third series, which I'd not read before. After that, I went back into the books that had introduced me to the author, starting with Rowan of Rin.

For those of you who haven't read the book, I recommend it. It'll take you less than two hours, and it's a good one to add to the "when I have kids" library. Spoilers will follow the jump, but I'll give you the premise, and you can decide if they really count as such.

Rowan is a small, fearful boy in the valley of Rin. The Rin people value strength and courage, and Rowan is considered to be fairly useless. The valley of Rin is fed by a single river flowing from the ominous Forbidden Mountain, said to be guarded by a fierce dragon. One day, the river mysteriously stops, and a group of the strongest villagers volunteer to travel into the perilous unknown and find the cause. A witch decides to help out, and gives them a map showing the dangers of the journey, which only Rowan can read. Rowan must accompany the party, who think him a burden, on a dangerous journey to save those he loves.

Spoilers follow

They win.

The party confronts a series of trials on the mountain, and it turns out that each of the party members have a critical fear they cannot overcome. One by one, they succumb, and flee back to the village. The general message of the book is that "everyone fears, and true courage is in overcoming your fear."

Rin's obsession with courage leads many of the villagers to hide their true fears. Each time a member of the party admits their fear, it is a source of deep shame. The people of Rin never share their fears, and thus have no opportunity to be helped through them. The people of Rin mistake courage for stoicism, and consider displays of emotion weak. 

Before the journey, Rowan is criticised for being overly emotional by the other villagers. Being such a soft weakling, Rowan is made a shepherd of the Bukshah, as caring for the gentle beasts is an undemanding job. Rowan overcomes his fears on the quest because of his devotion to his family, and the Bukshah for which he cares. The act that returns the river is one of compassion rather than strength (the dragon basically has a sore paw). In these ways, the book shows that love and affection are valuable emotions, deconstructing traditional ideas of masculinity.

Gender portrayal is fairly good in the book in general. Other than Rowan, the party is a 50-50 split between men and women. Though many characters are somewhat archetypal, their archetype isn't defined by their sex. Careers don't belong to one sex or other, and the greatest fighter in the village is a woman. Positive and negative traits (mainly ignorance/wisdom and harshness/kindness) are also spread around pretty evenly.

After completing my recent read of the book, I thought that it would make a good kids' movie. It has a fairly simple plot and structure, and has a good message. No one dies, and the climactic scene would still be pretty spectacular. On top of all that, it meets the modern Hollywood requirements of "Already Being a Thing," and "Already Having a Bunch of Sequels." I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been made already, though I don't know how well-known the book is overseas. Obviously there'd need to be some tweaks (it'd probably require more comedy, and pacing would need to be examined) but I thought it'd be a good fit.