Pierce is one of my all-time favorite YA authors, I have to restrain myself from reading the Tortall books more than once a year - and sometimes I fail...

Anyway, this is the first book with Keladry of Mindalen. Although a law passed ten years ago that girls were permitted to try for knighthood if they so choose, no one had yet come forth to do so. Now Kel wants to try for her shield, but she'll have even more trials than Alanna (The Song of the Lioness quartet) because everyone knows she is The Girl.

This describes Kel's first year as a page, and how she struggles to be accepted by the boys and her teachers. I love these books because all of the characters are well developed. Kel and her male friends are a rich tapestry of personalities, and we have the occasional cameo by someone in the earlier books. There is also the introduction of another culture that exists in this world, the Yamini (akin to an Oriental culture), who Kel's family spent the last several years with negotiating a peace treaty - so essentially she is straddling two different cultures and struggling to fit into either of these worlds.

Friends have been telling me to read Tamora Pierce for years, but I didn’t want to read something where the idea of a female warrior as a main character, was shoved down my throat. But I was wrong! Pierce is a great writer who seems to make her heroines sweat and bleed to succeed. This is the first book in the Protector of the Small series, and is about a ten year old girl called Kel. Her dream is to become a lady knight, and she has to use her wits and her courageous spirit to overcome obstacles and prove that she has what it takes to make it. Kel is very believable and very relatable. She’s an ambitious girl, and I’m excited to read what happens next! Definitely a good read for all ages. ( )

This was a refreshing story seeing a heroine in a medieval fantasy setting. I don't read much fantasy, but it usually seems to be a male dominated field for heroes. The setting is a fantasy medieval kingdom and the theme is overcoming societal restrictions. In this story, ten-year-old Keladry of Mindalen, daughter of nobles, serves as a page but must prove herself to the males around her if she is ever to fulfill her dream of becoming a knight. This book would be excellent for the middle school LMC especially for young girls looking to read about a non-traditional heroine. This book is part of a series of books which the TL may also look at to include in the collection. ( )

It was pleasant to read this book once more. I like Keladry's sense of chivalry; one of my favorite parts of the book has always been her rounds of "bully patrol". Also, her sparrow friends were a nice touch. I don't think there was anything I disliked about the book. One thing I look foreward to in the second book is if she gets over her fear of heights. ( )

This was the first in a new quartet set in Tortall, this one a couple of years after The Immortals quartet ends. The story is about Kel (Keladry) who is the first girl to take the King up on his new law which states that girls can train as pages to become knights. The new training master, however, does not believe in this law and doesn't want her to be allowed to train, but with the help of the King and the Lioness, he agrees to train her on probation: she has one year to prove to him that she is as good as all the other pages.
Kel is a great new character who is strong and determined to prove she can keep up with the work. She's also extremely honorable and can't stand to see others being bullied or hurt, whether it be a fellow page or a beaten dog.
Great book for all girls 10 and up. ( )