About the Author

In the sixth grade, Tamora Pierce was encouraged by her father to start writing and she immediately got hooked. Once she discovered fantasy and science fiction, she tried to write the same kind of stories she read, only with teenaged girl heroines who were usually missing from the 1960s stories.
Before her junior year at the University of Pennsylvania where she studied psychology, Pierce rediscovered writing when she wrote her first original short story since tenth grade. She sold her first story a year later and then enrolled in a fiction writing course during her senior year. When her teacher suggested that she tackle a novel, her childhood ideas came back to her and she began her first sword and sorcery novel.
Pierce then worked as a housemother in an Idaho group home for teenaged girls, who loved hearing Alanna's story from the in-progress quartet, Song of the Lioness. As Pierce continued to write and send out manuscripts, she moved to Manhattan to get her publishing career off the ground.
Pierce still lives in Manhattan with her husband, writer/filmmaker Tim, and their three cats, two parakeets, plus a floating population of rescued wildlife. She enjoys her hectic life as a full-time writer and she hopes that her books leave her readers with the feeling that they can achieve anything if they want it badly enough.
Tamora Pierce is a popular author of fantasy books for teenagers. In her latest quartet, Protector of the Small, readers follow heroine Kel as she rigorously trains for the knighthood.

Reviews

Gr 6-9-In this third installation in the series, Pierce at last relieves fans' concerns about who will take on young Keladry as a squire. After hanging tough with the page program, she is at last ready to take the next steps down the road to knighthood, accompanied by her friends and her faithful mutt. To her sorrow, she is not selected by the Lady Alanna, who taps Neal for her squire. Kel is chosen by Lord Raoul, commander of the King's Own, and she quickly discovers that she has landed the better situation. She soon finds herself fighting centaurs, cleaning up after floods, and caring for a baby griffin. Kel's nemesis, Joren, fails quite badly in the Chamber of the Ordeal, which will leave readers nervous about her own designated time there. What she faces in the Chamber nicely sets up the next book in this series. Pierce continues to create a broad range of fully realized characters, even if Raoul is a little too good to be true. Her plotting is sometimes a little rushed and Tortall often seems more like background scenery than a real place. However, the author has created a strong female protagonist who accomplishes her goals with her integrity, sense of humor, and her self-esteem intact. She faces decisions about sex, her relationships, and the effects both will have on her personal life and her future career as a knight and commander. Kel's fans will delight in seeing the parallels to their own lives, and Alanna and Daine's fans will enjoy seeing their favorites, if only in cameo roles.-Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.