Tamora Pierce

Bonnie Kunzel retired as the Youth Services Consultant for the New Jersey State Library in December of 2006. That same year she was selected Librarian of the Year by the New Jersey Library Association, only the second youth services librarian to receive this singular honor. On the national level, she is a Past-President of YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association, a Division of the American Library Association).She is a regular reviewer for the journal VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), again specializing in the areas of science fiction and fantasy, and she is a Science Fiction and Fantasy editor for NoveList, an on-line reader's advisory service. Her most recent work, co-authored with Constance Hardesty, is The Teen-Centered Book Club: Readers into Leaders (Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides for Young Adult Librarians Series, 2006.) She is currently working with Diana Tixier Herald on the second edition of Fluent in Fantasy for Libraries Unlimited.Susan Fichtelberg is the author of Encountering Enchantment: A Guide to Speculative Fiction for Teens, published by Libraries Unlimited. She also contributed to the Continuum Encyclopedia of Young Adult Literature. In her nineteen years as a children's librarian for the Woodbridge Public Library, Susan has served as the president of the Children's Services Section of the New Jersey Library Association and chaired the Garden State Children's Book Award Committee. She has presented fantasy book talks and programs for the New Jersey Library Association, the New Jersey Association of School Libraries, the New Jersey Education Association, The Witching Hour: A Harry Potter Symposium, and the World Science Fiction Convention.

Kunzel, a retired youth library services consultant, and Fichtelberg, a children's librarian, describe each novel's plot, character, and thematic development. The book also includes a brief biography and interview with Pierce, and an overview of the literary heritage of young adult fantasy, plus an overview of literary techniques used in Pierce's work. There are two bibliographies, one of books featuring strong female heroines and one of fantasy adventure in general.