Author | Tamora Pierce |
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Cover artist | David Wiesner |
Language | English |
Series | The Song of the Lioness |
Genre | Fantasy |
Publisher | Atheneum |
Publication date | September 1983 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 231 pp |
ISBN | 0-689-30994-5 |
OCLC | 9219289 |
LC Class | PZ7.P61464 Al 1983 |
Followed by | In the Hand of the Goddess |
Alanna: The First Adventure is a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce. Originally published in 1983, it is the first in a series of four books for young adults, The Song of the Lioness. Pierce originally drafted a single novel aimed at adults, but revised it to a series for young adults after being unable to find a publisher. Set in a time and place where girls are forbidden from becoming knights, the novel details the beginning of Alanna of Trebond's training as a knight as she hides her gender from teachers and fellow pages.
In 2013, Pierce received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in recognition of her two quartets, Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small. Edwards Committee Chair Jamie Watson commented that the books in both these quartets "have been influencing both readers and writers of fantasy since their inception".[1]
In 2020, it was included on Time’s list of the top 100 best fantasy books of all time.[2][3]