Personal Response:

Tamora Pierce’s The Immortal’s Quartet was the first of her books that I ever read. They hold a place in my heart for books about animals, magic, and strong powerful women. It was a gateway story, the series opened my eyes to so many new worlds, and to the way strong female characters should be written. I revisit Pierce’s different works on occasion just to remind myself where I started my social justice warrior/feminist journey. 

Summary:

Daine Sarasrri shows up at a hiring fair in the capital of Gala, and though obviously young and alone, convinces Onua to hire her to help with the several strings of ponies recently purchased. Onua is traveling south again to Tortall,  bringing with her ponies for the Queen’s Rider Group Trainees. These mountain ponies are notorious for their temper and “sense of humor”, Daine assures Onua that she is not a runaway but an orphan hoping to make her own way, and she has a “way with animals”. Daine quickly proves this with the lead stallion pony and they set out the next morning. On their journey south Onua and Daine begin to trust each other more, becoming friends and like sisters, Onua witnesses Daine interacting may times with animals both wild and domestic.

Daine is visited in her dreams by a large badger, he tells her that he promised Daine’s Da that he’d watch over her, so hes here to help teach her and keep an eye on her. The next day they encounter monsters in a swamp, Stormwings creatures shaped like giant birds of prey but with the torso and head of a human, no arms only wings, and all of their feathers are made of razor sharp steel. The Stormwings are chasing a hawk out of the woods, when Daine distracts them the hawk plummets to hide in the swamp. Daine and Onua confront the monsters with bow and arrow and Onua’s magic Gift. The monsters eventually retreat when the birds of the wood and swamp also come to Daine’s defense. They retrieve the hawk, and Daine begins to nurse him. She can’t look into his eyes without feeling dizzy and she begins to suspect there is something very different about this bird from the way Onua treats him. As his condition declines Onua calls for help and they are met by Alanna the Kings Champion and a company of the King’s Own. Alanna uses her magical Gift and her gift of healing to heal the hawk, surprising Daine when it transforms back into a human man! This man, Numair, is a Mage, a very powerful one. Onua, Daine, and Numair continue the journey eventually arriving in Corus, the capital city of Tortall. Daine hires on with Onua through the rest of the summer to help the Rider trainees learn how to handle their mounts. Numair tells Daine that he believes that her “way with animals” is actually a very strong magic called Wild Magic, unheard of at that strength in a human. He begins to teach her how to use her magic and she becomes his apprentice. When the Trainees are ready to move to their summer training camp, Pirate’s Swoop home of the Alanna, Numair joins them in their travels.

Once at Pirate’s Swoop they all settle into their training schedule with the Queen Thayet, the Baron of the Swoop, and Alanna as their hosts when the cove is surrounded in the night by raiders. Out at sea there is a large complement of ships surrounding the mouth of their cove, headed by The Free Corsairs, pirates. However it is clear by the presence of mages and certain types of weapons aboard the ships that this is actually a siege being perpetrated by the Emperor Ozorn of Carthak to the east. Refusing to give into the terms of the siege , give up the Queen and her children, the Swoop prepares for battle. Daine finally gives in to the creatures of the forest and directs them on how to destroy and sabotage the camps of the raiders in their woods. Battle follows.

I will not run the ending of the book, only say that surprising things happen, and good triumphs over evil.

Application:

This book is chock full of strong non-traditional female characters, starting with Daine herself. She is a peasant, the daughter of a hedge-witch killed by raiders, who slowly learns that all the great heroes and legendary characters of her time are also people! They laugh, love, and spend their days and nights working hard in their everyday lives. Alanna, whose story we have visited before,  is a woman of legend, but also a woman who loves her family and is fiercely loyal to her people. Thayet, a Queen who instituted a group of elite mounted warriors to patrol her kingdom, and rides with them every chance she gets, trains with them and keeps in fighting shape instead of going to endless parties. Finally Onua, a strong independent horse-mistress, who takes shit from no one and is the most loving person to Daine, but who was beaten and left for dead by her ex-husband. 

These people and their character traits are incredibly vital for young women to read. Incredibly important role models for adolescent girls to read and emulate.

House of Night Book One

Cast, P. C., and Kristin Cast. Marked. St. Martins Paperbacks, 2013.

Personal Response:

I chose this book from my bookshelf a few weeks ago, I took it with me when I went to Old Vineyard for my stabilization week. I chose it because the story was familiar to me, I have read the whole series more than once. P.C. Cast is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors, she writes stories about Goddess, magic, and strong women. This series is written in conjunction with her oldest daughter, Kristen, and forges into the ever popular world of vampire fantasy. The story, I think, is unique among its kind because the Vampyres in this world follow a pagan goddess named Nyx, and it is established early on that the vampyres are merely an evolutionary branch of humanity, not the undead. The story is rooted in Tulsa OK, and has strong threads of the Cherokee history of that area weaving through it. I felt that it brought a nice diversity to my choices of strong female protagonists to have a Native American teen in the mix. Unlike other books I have reviewed this one’s magic is rooted in the elements with very pagan roots, Its a great mixture of my own pagan beliefs combined with the nature oriented Cherokee heritage.

Summary:

Our story begins in a typical small town high school, our main character Zoey is well established as a normal 16 year old girl worried about her geometry test and her football playing boyfriend who has begun a nasty habit of drinking beer after school, something she does not agree with. As she and her best friend approach her locker after school she sees a Tracker Vampyre (hereafter:vamp) waiting for her. He touches her forehead and pronounces that Night and Nyx have claimed her with a very formal monologue-y statement about destiny and then she passes out. When she comes to her BF is freaked out and won’t come near her after seeing the crescent moon outline Mark on Zoey’s forehead. Though vamps are everywhere in society there is still mystery and stigma surrounding them. Zoey will have none of her nonsense and does her best to stay calm. After an unpleasant encounter in the parking lot with her boyfriend and some of his teammates Zoey makes her way home. At home she ends up having another unpleasant confrontation with her mom and her very very religious step-father (People of Faith=religious zealots) and sneaks out to her grandmother’s lavender farm. By this time Zoey is getting sick, if she doesn’t go to the House of Night school where all the other adult vamps and fledglings are she will die as her boy rejects the Change. While searching for her grandmother on the farm Zoey passes out again and is sucked into a vision of the goddess Nyx who tells her that the Night is her destiny and that Nyx has chosen her to do great things. When she awakens she is in the House of Night. We meet Neferet, the head of the school and Zoey’s new mentor, Zoey is encouraged to see her Change as a rebirth and she officially adopts her grandmother’s Cherokee family name Redbird. The rest of the story establishes the routine of the school, the cast of teenage intrigue and drama, complete with love interest Erik Night, and mean girl Aphrodite. Zoey discovers during her first Full-Moon ritual that she has an affinity for all five elements (air,fire,water,earth, and spirit), something unheard of for a full priestess, much less an un-Changed fledgling. Also Zoey’s Mark, unlike those of other fledglings, is filled in solid. The first book in the series ends with Zoey creating her own circle of power to save a human with her new best friend’s, all of which have been gifted with an affinity for a different element. Zoey’s Mark expands into a tracery of lace around her eyes and down her shoulders and back, also completely unheard of even in full grown and powerful vamps. The book closes with Zoey being placed in charge of the Daughters of Night, a sorority like group that run their own rituals to worship Nyx and who also are seen as peer leaders on campus, displacing mean girl Aphrodite from that position. We are left as readers with the sense that there is much more to come in the following books.

Theory:

I would encourage my students to read these books, they stand apart from the vampire craze of the early 2010s with their P.O.C. protagonist and their knowledge and inclusion of Cherokee knowledge. I also like the way the matriarchal vamp society is structured, as a direct contrast to patriarchal human society and faiths. The character development is strong, well-rounded, and Zoey is a great role model. Though there is a romance aspect to it, it is very age appropriate and is not the center driving force of the pot or the character’s personality.

coerlfolc- the teeming mass of common people who make up humanity’s great bulk” (pg149 kindle)

crypto-sapiens- syndrigast- “peculiar spirit”- traits often skip a generation, or ten. children are not always or even usually born to peculiar parents, and peculiar parents don’t always, or even usually, bear peculiar children.

ymbrynes- time manipulators, birds, can create temporal loops in which peculiar folk can live indefinitely. Always women.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Random House, 2000.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:

Be still my beating heart. This is my favorite Harry Potter book, the real turning point in the series from adolescent school stories to an older and darker story. This where where (excuse my french) shit gets real. Yes, Harry has faced enemies before, yes they were forms of Voldemort and his henchmen, but in this installment Harry comes face to face with the reality of the battle before Wizardkind. This is also the story where we see Rowling’s talent for pulling Classical themes into a contemporary work; where the Hero With a Thousand Faces really shows up, the heroic cycle of adventure. I remember reading this book for the first time, I was 14 and attended a midnight release for the book at my local Barnes & Noble, a first of its kind! My mom took the book away from me as soon as we got out of the store, she knew I’d be awake all night reading if she didn’t. I got up early the next day, unheard of in the middle of summer break, and read the book all day long. I laid across my mom’s bed, i was so enraptured by the story that I didn’t even leave her room before I opened the book. I didn’t stop to eat, I didn’t even move until i realized it was getting hard to read because the sun was going down and I needed to turn on a light. Like many of the books I have written about this semester rereading this book was like going home, like sinking into bed after a long day and talking on the pone with an old friend.

SUMMARY:

The story begins in a muggle village where Wormtail and Voldemort have settled into the Riddle’s old house, they are discovered by the Muggle groundskeeper whom Voldemort then kills, this action wakes Harry from a dead sleep across the country with pain in his curse scar.

Harry is taken to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley’s where we see a demonstration of Death Eaters scaring people after the game, followed by the Dark Mark being lofted into the night sky. The Death Eaters scatter at this, since they are only free because they lied about their involvement with the Dark Wizards 14 years earlier. Ministry workers show up and find that Harry’s misplaced wand had been used to conjure the Dark Mark and many questions are asked until Mr. Weasley points out the absurdity of that thought.

When the trio or Harry, Ron, and Hermoine return to Hogwarts they are thrilled to learn that Dumbledore has brought back the Triwizard Tournament, a year long spectacle involving students from two other Wizarding schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbaton. Only students over the age of 17 may put their names in the Goblet of Fire to have the chance to champion their school in the competition. We follow many students as they put their names forward. On the day that the Champions are named for each school some trick has put Harry’s name in under a fourth school effectively making him the fourth champion, something unheard of. Bound by a magical contract to compete against the other students Harry is included in the roster of champions. When this is done most of Hogwarts turns on Harry thinking he did this himself, including Ron, in a search for attention. Only Hermoine stands by Harry until after the first Task is completed, in which the Champions must retrieve a Golden Egg from a full size nesting dragon. In order to beat this Harry takes the advice of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Moody, and uses his superb flying skills.

After running the gauntlet of the challenges, surviving the Yule Ball, and finally making up with Ron, Harry is in the running for first place against Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, the original Hogwarts champion. When they enter the final Task, a maze, they reach the Triwizard Cup at the same time, which turns out to be a Portkey, pulling them far away to a distant graveyard in the same village we started our story in. Voldemort and Wormtail work a spell using Wormtail’s flesh and Harrys blood to bring Voldemort back to an actual body. Before this spell is worked Wormtail kills Cedric on Voldemort’s orders, leaving Harry alone to face the Dark wizards.  Through a strange reaction between their wands Harry is given a chance to escape Voldemort during a duel, returning to the entrance of the maze at Hogwarts with Cedric’s body in tow. During the confusion following his reappearance Harry is hustled away by Moody, who we find is actually a Death Eater in disguise using Polyjuice Potion. Dumbledore and McGonagall arrive just in time to save Harry from the Death Eater, Bartimus Crouch JR, and Harry is sent to the hospital wing. The news that Voldemort has returned is announced the farewell feast on the last day of school, greeted by unease and disbelief from Harry’s fellow students. We part ways with our protagonists at the Hogwart’s Express one more time as they leave for summer break, more resolute than ever in their friendship.

CONNECTIONS:

What can I say… Harry Potter is used in classrooms worldwide, sometimes just to catch the interest of reluctant readers. However in my classroom I would use this book as an excellent example of the Heroic journey written about by Joseph Campbell. I would pull all the references to Classical works and figures out of the story and show my students the original works or mythologies they are from. I would hold up the example of bullying and peer stigma that Harry went through to show my students that they are not alone.

I am unsure of which theoretical lens I would use to study this or teach it since it has such great draw from several, Critical Race Theory, with the Pureblood vs Muggle argument, which could also be seen through a Marxist lens if we are going to get serious about interpreting things.

McCaffrey, Anne. Dragonsinger. Aladdin, 2016.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:

This is the second installment in Menolly’s journey to adulthood, and self discovery. A personal favorite, I love this series for all of it’s imaginative world building yet still focusing on the everyday struggles of growing up. Rereading these books is like a cup of tomato soup on a rainy day, sitting in your favorite chair with nowhere else to be. I appreciate the chance to revisit this world in the name of furthering my education.

SUMMARY:

When we left Menolly she had been scooped up by the Masterharper and placed at Harper Hall to learn her craft. This second book spans a sevenday period of the time following her arrival. With her Menolly brought two Firelizard eggs for the Masterharper and his journeyman, Sebell, to hatch and Impress. Menolly is tested thouroughly and somewhat begrudgingly by old men who don’t feel it is a girl’s place to presume to be a Harper. Her success does nothing but irritate them further, and she manages to make enemies of the girls who are paying students that she must room with. Through her own modest nature and her unsullied joy in music Menolly wins people to her as friends. Envy drives the other girls to be spiteful and hateful to Menolly and her fair of Firelizards, as well as Menolly’s newfound friends. This comes to a head during a Gather, a street festival, and the ringleader of the girls is sent back home in disgrace for bearing flase witness against Menolly.

At the end of the Gather its requested that Menolly perform one of the very popular tunes she composed before she was found, The Fire Lizards Queen. Playing and singing on stage with Robinton she finally finds her self-confidence in her talent and in her self.

The book ends with her being promoted to Journeyman status at the end of the seven days shes been at the Crafthall.

CONNECTIONS:

This installment addresses some themes of peer bullying, self-confidence issues, and loyalty. Strong friendships, platonic!, are brought to light and celebrated. This last issue is one dear to my heart, I think there are far too many YA novels that have a “love story” as their main plot driving force, the target audience of these books should be learning that strong mutual friendships are important, oftentimes more so than romantic attachments.

If I were to use this book, or the series, in a teaching environment I would emphasize the self-doubt and inner struggles that the protagonist faces. I would also be very interested in the prose scattered throughout the book in the form of lyrics to Menolly’s compositions.

When looking at this with a theoretical perspective I might emphasize the Queer theory, not because there are any explicitly romantic attachments of any sort, but because Menolly finds herself so much other from the people she grew up with. So different to the point that she was ready to die rather than stay there any longer, until she found her true place among others who prize music and learning as highly as she does.

McCaffrey, Anne. Dragonsong. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1976.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:

This book was written and released before I was born, yet it and it’s sequels remain some of my favorite books. Anne McCaffrey was a brilliant author with a talent for world building that is still unrivaled, in my opinion. This story was vital to my understanding of what it meant to be unique, strong, and female. In a era when independent and strong female characters were sadly lacking in fantasy (like LotR) McCaffrey did not fail us with her writing.

Impactful, and informative this book is a member of one of my favorite fantasy universes of all time.

SUMMARY:

We start our journey in Half-Circle Seahold, an isolated fishing settlement that has just lost its elderly Harper. Harpers on Pern are teachers, spies, entertainers, messengers, and more. Menolly, our 14 Turn old protagonist, was given the honor of singing him into the sea for burial. Pern is a aural society they have some written Records but most information, lessoning, and important events are immortalized in song.  Half-Circle is hidebound, meaning traditional and a little backwards in their thinking, Menolly is the youngest daughter of Yanus, the head Holder. Yanus allows Menolly to continue the lessons for the children but absolutely forbids her to “tune or twiddle”, impressing upon her that girls can’t be Harpers and that she should realize it’s time to grow up and shoulder her real responsibilities, that when the new Harper shows up she’ll no longer be special. Menolly lives for music, she composes, sings, plays, and teaches better than any other person in the Hold, her late teacher fostered that joy in music in her. Unfortunately for Menolly her father doesn’t share his views and punishes her severely if he hears her doing anything other than the Teaching Songs. The very day that the new Harper arrives to take up his duties, Mennoly’s hand is injured while gutting fish, resulting in an infection and scar that leaves her unable to play. Sick with this loss, and ever mindful of her father’s admonishments to not “dishonor their Hold” Menolly spends her days avoiding the main Hold, going out searching for wild greens and fruits. One day she stumbles upon Firelizards, the small cousins of the fire breathing Dragons that keep their world safe from the Thread that threatens it regularly, helping the Queen Firelizard save her clutch of eggs from a flooding tide Menolly realizes that the myths of the lizards are true and decides to keep their existence secret from the rest of the Hold.

One day Menolly is gathering greens and spiderclaws from the nearby beach when she realizes that Thread is falling n the distance, she can see the flashes of fire as the Dragons fight it in the sky. Running for home, she remembers the cave where she saved the eggs and heads in that direction. Once inside the cave she realizes that the eggs are Hatching, as she watches some of the hatchlings fly out into the Thread falling from the sky where they are killed by the carbon-devouring filaments. Using the sack full of spiderclaws she keeps the rest of the babies from leaving the cave. From that day on Menolly stays in the cave with her friends, the 9 psychically bound firelizards that she saved from death.

Through her 2 month stay in this cave she teaches her friends to hunt, and to harmonize with her pipe playing (she can play reed pipes but not any other instrument due to the scarring on her hand), and makes a home for herself. While out gathering food for them one day she is again caught out by Threadfall, and found running for her life by a dragonrider. Taken to their home, Benden Weyr, Menolly is nursed back to health and meets several important and influential people from her world. All this time the new Harper from Half-Circle has been searching for her, for the author of the tunes her found stored away in the old records. During a Dragon Hatching event he finds her, and so does the Masterharper of Pern. Deciding that a talent likes hers needed to flourish Masterharper Robinton takes her to the Harperhall to learn, and grow into her own.

CONNECTIONS:

In a college classroom I think that this story would be well received if introduced as a coming of age tale. Interspersed throughout the book, and its two sequels, are rhyme and poetry that represent the songs of this world and those that Menolly writes. Using the fact that culture is aural instead of visual like America’s, I believe that a study of these verses and the cultural significance of song could be interesting. Also the development of Menolly from “just a girl” to a valued member of society is very important and useful.

Garcia, Kami, and Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Creatures. Little, Brown, 2013.

PERSONAL RESPONSE AND SUMMARY:

An entire world in one book, that’s the usual experience, not so this time. In B.C. the reader is given two worlds; the Mortal world of Gatlin South Carolina where where nothing ever changes, and those who leave never come back, where there are “only two kinds of people, those who are bound to stay or too dumb to go, everyone else finds a way out.” (Garcia & Stohl pg 1). The second world, that of the Casters flows underneath the surface of the Mortal world, Dark and Light, Green and Gold. The story follows Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes, a Mortal and a Caster. Their story echoes through time, from 1864 to their present day. Lena is doomed to be Claimed, Dark or Light, on her 16th birthday with no choice in the matter. Dreading going Dark after losing her cousin to it, Lena fights fate everyday, with Ethan by her side. No matter how hard she pushes him away to save him he is by her side.

Niece of the town shut-in, Macon Ravenwood, Lena’s social future in Gatlin is doomed from the start. Ethan, star of the basketball team turns from the people he’s known all his life to stand by her. Ethan’s parents are scholars and writers, his mom recently killed in a car wreck and his father slowly unraveling in her absence, Ethan is different from those he grew up with, he sees through the drama and pageantry of small town life, always yearning for the day he can leave it all behind.

Through ups and downs, expulsion attempts, growing Caster powers, Carrie-like school dance pranks, and the ever looming Battle of Honey Hill Reenactment Ethan and Lena grow closer to each other and closer to her birthday. On that fateful night Lena’s mother shows up, revealing that she had been possessing one of the “upright town ladies” for months, spearheading the campaign against Lena, trying to get her to forsake the Mortals and go Dark.  The events of the night echo those of the Honey Hill Battle in 1864, when Ethan’s ancestor was killed in front of the love of his life, Lena’s ancestor. Genevieve casts Dark magic trying to bring him back, which results in a curse on the generations of Duchannes’ women to follow. They are Claimed for Dark or Light with no choice in the matter, and every generation one woman will become the Darkest Caster, this time around is Serafine, Lena’s mother.

When all is said and done Ethan lives, his death traded for that of Lena’s beloved Uncle Mason Ravenwood, Lena Claims herself, neither Dark or Light but a blending of the two, Serafine and her conspirators disappear into the night, and we are left with Ethan and Lena. Together, yet drifting into the unknown consequences of the breaking of the curse.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:
I really enjoyed this book, the beginning of a series of 4, I will be devouring the next three as soon as possible. I think it has some very complex world building, and elegant storytelling. The imagery of a South stuck in the past, unable to concede defeat in anything even more than 100 years later, the slow building of a completely believable relationship and trust between Lena and Ethan. All supernatural elements aside the story between Ethan and Lena is excellent, in a time when many YA books have ridiculously serious relationships for their young protagonists, physically and emotionally, this story is slow building, layered with examples of trust, and both mature and immature decisions. I love that the authors kept the relationship to the minimally physical, I love that the most important relationships in this book are those of family, and best friends, real solid loyalty and trust.

CONNECTIONS:

I think that this book would be appropriate in a classroom, either secondary or higher education. It is beautifully written with excellent imagery, and important ideas of what it means to be a young adult, and what it looks like to stand up to bullying and stand for what is right. The book is filled with excellent literary quotes from the character Marian, the head librarian, and sparked my interest enough in them that I looked some of them up. It also has a strong emphasis on the importance of journaling and the help that it can be in a tough situation.

Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. Orion Books, 2015.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:

This book was suggested to me by a librarian at the public library for a project I am working on concerning YA literature. I was skeptical of it at first, after reading the book jacket I was not completely sold on the idea of yet another novel about teenagers fighting to the death. Then Bookbub sent it to me for $1.99 and I could no longer ignore it. At first glance it seems to be another Hunger Games-esque novel, teens, love triangles and arena fighting. However, as I was drawn into the book more and more I realized there was much more beneath the surface, much like the protagonist Mare.

SUMMARY:

Mare Barrow is a Red Blood, doomed to conscription in an endless war with the neighboring kingdom. Held in near slavery by the Silver Bloods, the Reds barely managed a subsistence existence, the Silvers keeping the much more numerous Reds in check with their Abilities. Stoneskins, Nymphs, Magnetrons, and most feared, Whispers.

With their Abilities to control the natural elements, and the people around them, the Silvers held the Reds in check, barely. We follow Mare, a common thief, through misadventure after disaster until she is revealed to be something unexpected: a Red with the Ability to harness and create electricity. Unfortunately for the Royals her power is exposed in a most public way, forcing them to concoct a story about a lost Silver Noble who was found through happenstance and restored to her rightful place, and then betrothed to the younger Prince. From here we see Mare do everything in her power to learn the world around her, be true to her heritage while also protecting her secret Red blood, and thread her way through the dangers of the royal court. The Scarlet Guard, a Red rebellion, recruits her as well as her future husband, a Silver Prince. They instigate an assassination at a ball and the world falls apart from there. A theme running through the story is “Anyone can betray anyone.” We see Mare, Maureen now, falling for the eldest prince, Cal, while her fiance Mavin watches. The Princes and their father the King are Burners who can control fire, and the Queen is a Whisper she controls the minds and bodies of people around her.  In an unsuspected twist Mavin, never content to be the “shadow behind the flame” of his older brother, conspires with his mother, who is the second Queen, to assassinate the King, betray the Scarlet Guard, and frame his brother and Mare for all of this a become King.

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM AND ADOLESCENCE:

This was an excellent book, well written, well plotted, and completely compelling. It goes far beyond the general love story, royal intrigue, and rebellion expected of it to deliver a punch to the reader’s gut. It has layers of meaning, themes of loyalty and betrayal. What it means to be human, what it means to be family. I found the setup of Reds vs Silvers to be excellent, very Marxist in fact. It was strongly reminiscent of the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat,  Mare an unexpected bridge between the two. With the plotting, intrigue and general air of desperation throughout the book we see a train hurdling towards certain doom, much like our own society, with no reprieve in sight, with just the slightest gleaming of hope when Mare’s abilities are discovered to be stronger than those of the Silver.

I would absolutely use this book in a classroom setting, It might be a bit too bloody and violent for the younger adolescent reader, but in a college classroom or an older high school classroom this novel could be used to teach about capitalism, the bonds between family, and the inescapable likelihood of rebellion. There are twisting story lines, a maze of a plot, and it would be a great tool for teaching a creative writing class on world-building or layering plots. In the theoretical perspectives listed for our class on Blackboard I would most list this one under White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack.

The Song of the Lioness Quartet: Book One

Pierce, Tamora. Song of the Lioness. Alanna. Simon Pulse, 2005. First of four.

PERSONAL RESPONSE:

This book was written in 1983 by Tamora Pierce, a prolific adolescent fantasy author. Set in a Middle Ages kingdom, rich in chivalry, knights, and magic this book captured my attention early on. I was 12 the first time I read it and was immediately captivated by the idea of a girl disguising herself as a boy to become a knight. I enjoy the entire series, as well as the other books set in this world by the author. I read it the first time when I was 10, and have reread the series multiple times when I am in need of comfort reading.

SUMMARY:

Alanna, our main character, is a young girl who longs for adventure, scared of her own magical gift and what it might mean for her, she switches places with her twin brother. Becoming Alan of Trebond and venturing to the capital to learn how to become  a knight was far more enticing to her than going to a convent to learn about her magic and how to become a Lady. The story follows her first year as a page, teaching the reader about the stages of learning needed to be granted a title as a knight, the hard work and never-ending toil to reach that goal.  The story follows an almost predictable story arc,  young person makes friends, works hard, makes an enemy, confronts that enemy, and saves the day. The twist in Alanna’s story is her magic and her budding friendship with the future king. This is the first of four installments that tells the story of Alanna’s journey to knighthood and adulthood, her path to proving herself to herself. She is a *just* a girl and therefore seen as lesser in the eyes of greater society, and now she has to prove to everyone else AND herself that she is worth other friendships, time, and trust.

TIES TO ADOLESCENCE:

This book would be very welcome in a classroom! I think that though the characters are aged 11 and 12 it would be entertaining to a wider age group. It has themes of bullying, adversity, education, and building trust and healthy friendships. Each of these issues is lined up and summarily knocked down by our heroine. The book is the first of four and the rest of the series ages with the characters, having more adult themes and issues as the story lines progress. It would be useful in addressing bullying, and in addressing healthy, young, and platonic relationships.

Snag a book, coax a lap-cat, and enjoy!

This blog will consist of book reviews, stories about my cats (or my dog), and sometimes about the nights that are perfect. Those are when its raining or cold outside, there’s great tea, cider, or warmed wine in my hand, and a purring cat keeping me company.

“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love