Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce has a large following of teen and adult readers, who savor her fantasy novels with strong female characters. This volume provides her readers and fans with additional insights into her life and work. The first section provides a biographical chapter and literary heritage. The second and third sections analyze the Tales of Tortall and the Magic Circle Sagas as a whole, providing details into the characters and settings of each. The final section of the book, Perspectives, includes both a section on literary techniques along with an interview of Tamora Pierce herself. Appendices include a section on Power Female Heroes, and Fantasy Adventures.

Novels include: "*The Song of the Lioness Quartet *The Immortals Quartet *The Protector of the Small Quartet *The Trickster Duology *The Magic Circle Quartet *The Circle Opens Quartet *The Will of the EmpresS"

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, isThe 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 ofFluent 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 theContinuum 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.