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26-471: Wild Magic is set in the same world as The Song of the Lioness quartet. Daine's family was killed earlier in the year by raiders and after enacting revenge upon the raiders, she runs away to find a new life. She gets a job as an assistant to the horsemistress of Tortall's Queen's Riders, and she learns new things about herself and gains a new family. The reader is introduced to Veralidaine, (who goes by Daine),

52-430: A boy because she is still prepubescent, but in her first year of training to be a knight she goes through puberty and gets her first period. This causes quite a bit of self-searching as Alanna struggles with her identity as a female while living as a boy. She does reveal to a select close few her female side, sometimes intentionally and other times not, but still struggles with it even as they encourage her to explore both

78-622: A review by Ann A. Flowers for Horn Book Magazine , "Readers familiar with the books about Alanna — the Song of the Lioness Quartet will welcome the exciting new adventures in which she appears, and they will find in Daine a strong heroine whose humble beginning makes her well deserved rewards even more gratifying." A review by Karen Cruze for Booklist states, "The appeal of the fantasy is in its mix of horses, otherworldly enemies, and pageantry set against

104-568: A thirteen-year-old girl who can speak to animals. Daine meets Onua, the woman in charge of the horses for the "Queen's Riders", (the group of warriors who ride with and for the Queen), and is hired to help bring up a group of new ponies to the capital of Tortall. Along the way, Daine and Onua are attacked by strange creatures called Immortals, which are mystical beings including monsters such as spidrens, (huge, carnivorous spiders with human heads), and Stormwings, (metallic birds with human faces that feast on

130-476: A troubled family life. Pierce drew much of her inspiration from other fantasy series such as The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien . Pierce set out to not only create an epic fantasy adventure, but to populate it with a strong female protagonist. Pierce saw the need for a female protagonist in the significant lacking of such heroes in the fantasy novels she enjoyed as a child, often stating that she wrote what she as

156-408: A twice-annual supplement which features reviews of series nonfiction books. It also releases a Best Books list annually. R.R. Bowker sold SLJ and Library Journal in 1985 to Reed International (later merged into Reed Elsevier ). In 2006 School Library Journal had a circulation of 38,000 subscribers and more than 100,000 readers. Reed sold the two journals in 2010 to Media Source Inc. , owner of

182-411: A warrior, mage and a woman. In the final volume, Alanna becomes King's Champion to Jonathan and Baroness of the coastal estate Pirate's Swoop, following her marriage to George Cooper, newly minted Baron of Pirate's Swoop. The series covers Alanna's life and development as she disguises herself and lives as a male. This causes a lot of gender discussion. At first it is easy for her to disguise herself as

208-416: A wide background during the quartet including George, the commoner king of the thieves; the scholar Sir Myles of Olau; senior students Gareth (Gary) of Naxen, Raoul of Goldenlake, and Prince Jonathan of Conté; Princess Thayet of Sarain; Liam Ironarm, a martial-arts champion; and Buriram (Buri) Tourakom, Thayet's bodyguard. Her principal rivals are classmate Ralon of Malven and Jonathan's kinsman Duke Roger. In

234-669: A young-adult would have enjoyed. Originally, Pierce had written her acclaimed quartet as a single adult novel but, following editorial advice, rewrote it into the now famous young-adult fantasy series. Pierce has said that she based the character of Alanna on her sister. Pierce's book has been selected Recommended Fantasy List in June 1991, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults in 2003 and Young Adult Library Services Association by YALSA. Her book has also been nominated South Carolina Children's Book Awards from 1985 to 1986. She has won Bookworm's Prize by ZDF Schüler-Express. Alanna: The First Adventure,

260-680: Is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians , media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology, multimedia , and other information resources that are likely to interest young learners. Reviews are classified by the target audience of the publications: preschool ; schoolchildren to 4th grade, grades 5 and up, and teens; and professional librarians themselves ("professional reading"). Fiction , non-fiction , and reference books books are reviewed, as are graphic novels , multimedia, and digital resources. School Library Journal

286-487: Is visited frequently by the male badger god, who tells her that he promised her father he'd look after her. The badger god gives her a claw to wear around her neck that will allow him to contact her, and is very angry after she nearly kills herself by accidentally stopping her heart in order to hear dolphins. She finds out that she is able to talk to certain Immortals as well, and manages to convince several griffins not to harass

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312-409: The book as "A feel-good epic - personable and sweet - in which animals are both buddies and supper" and states, "Despite the sitcom dialogue and characters like Lady Knight Alanna (she burps her babies with one hand, slays ogres with the other), Pierce makes both Daine and her quest likable." Charli Osborne reviews the audio version for School Library Journal , stating "this full-cast performance of

338-633: The book is a joy to listen to" and "Unobtrusive music throughout enhances the recording." The Song of the Lioness The Song of the Lioness is a young adult series of fantasy novels published in the 1980s by Tamora Pierce . The series consists of four books: Alanna: The First Adventure (1983), In the Hand of the Goddess (1984), The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (1986) and Lioness Rampant (1988). Noblewoman Alanna of Trebond, disguised as

364-457: The boy "Alan", exchanges places with her twin brother Thom, to go to the royal palace in the city of Corus to train for knighthood, while Thom studies magic. Throughout the four novels Alanna deals with her secretive and unusual status as an aspiring female knight; friendships; romances; physical hardship; world-changing quests and duty. She experiences such challenges as puberty, bullying and defying social convention. Alanna befriends characters of

390-447: The dead). They later learn that nearly all of Tortall, Scanra, Galla, Tusaine, Maren and Tyra are being plagued by these Immortals, despite the fact that they were supposed to have been locked away years ago. As it turns out, the Immortals that attacked them had been on the chase of a hawk, which Daine rescues using her powers. With the help of Alanna of Trebond , Daine turns him back into a human, and he turns out to be Numair Salmalin ,

416-616: The eternal theme of recognizing one's worth." A review for Publishers Weekly notes the challenge of developing a novel to follow the Song of the Lioness series, and describes the benefits and drawbacks ("some of the scenes are a little bewildering") of telling the story from Daine's perspective, while also noting, "Pierce's inventive descriptions of Daine's apprenticeship as a Mage, her riveting battles with griffins, dragons and other monsters, and her delightful, egalitarian ideals more than compensate for this minor flaw." Kirkus Reviews describes

442-554: The most powerful mage in Tortall and one of the few black-robe mages in the world. Upon reaching Corus, she continues as the assistant horsemistress, teaching Rider trainees such as her friends Miri and Evin and learning more about her own powers of "wild magic" from Numair, who becomes her teacher. She discovers the true depth of her power and learns of its advantages and dangers. During a journey to Alanna's home, Pirate's Swoop, Daine tells Onua and Numair about how she had lost her mind after

468-516: The murder of her family, and joined a pack of wolves to kill the bandits who had killed her family. The townspeople of Snowsdale then realized what was happening and tried to kill her, so she fled. After a time spent wild with the wolves, she regained her humanity and sanity with the help of Cloud, her pony. Relieved that her friends still like her after her confession, and after Numair enacts a spell so she will not lose her mind once again, she begins to hone her powers and soon learns to heal animals. She

494-504: The people of Pirate's Swoop. Towards the end of the book, she saves Pirate's Swoop from an attack of pirates and Immortals who are under orders from Carthak, a neighboring country. She defeats them by calling a kraken from the far away ocean floor. She's also left in charge of a dragonet, whose mother Flamewing has died in the battle to help save Tortall. Daine names the dragonet Skysong — the name her mother Flamewing passes on to her before she dies — and raises her like her own. According to

520-432: The second volume, Alanna also acquires the magical cat "Faithful", who accompanies her thereafter. (Faithful is hinted to be an immortal, but his origins remain unknown.) Because of her double identity as a girl masquerading as a boy, small size, magic, and impatience, Alanna often questions her own character. In the third book, she becomes an honorary member of the "Bazhir", a Bedouin -like ethnicity, and gains acceptance as

546-463: The series has been a big part towards the use of these novels in classes as it teaches some of the faults towards bullying and what is wrong with it and why this book is worth teaching. American author Tamora Pierce published Alanna: The First Adventure, the first book in The Song of the Lioness quartet, in 1983. Tamora Pierce is said to have turned to writing at a young age as a means of escape from

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572-410: The sides she has available to her. This theme is one of the reasons the series received such a high feminist regard as it was very open and honest towards the female body and its limitations versus being able to push oneself beyond that. In 2019, Pierce posted on Twitter that "Alanna has always defied labels. She took the best bits of being a woman and a man, and created her own unique identity. I think

598-404: The term is 'gender-fluid', though there wasn't a word for this (to my knowledge) when I was writing her." The series as a whole pays attention to the struggles Alanna faces due to her small frame, and her magic abilities. She spends the first half of Alanna: The First Adventure being beaten up by a bully, and eventually fights back with the support of her friends. This theme being played up in

624-547: Was created in partnership with Dual Wield Studio , featuring a selection of pins, apparel and accessories developed in collaboration with creators from the Tamora Pierce fanbase. The collection expanded in 2020 to include a rendition of the map of Tortall and continues to grow. At the end of 2023, Dual Wield Studio announced a new collection celebrating the 40th anniversary of Alanna: The First Adventure. School Library Journal School Library Journal ( SLJ )

650-429: Was first published in 1983 by Atheneum Books , and then Random House Inc. The following books were published in 1984, 1986, and 1988, respectively. The series started out as a 732-page novel titled the Song of the Lioness, but her editor, Jean Karl , thought parts were too inappropriate for children and Tamora Pierce edited it into the present series. In November of 2018, the first line of officially licensed merchandise

676-440: Was founded by publisher R.R. Bowker in 1954, under the title Junior Libraries and by separation from its Library Journal . The first issue was published on September 15, 1954. Gertrude Wolff was the first editor. Early in its history SLJ published nine issues each year, dated September to May and released on the fifteenth of each month. It now publishes monthly. In 2008 School Library Journal launched Series Made Simple ,

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