Alanna: The First Adventure Themes

Friends make the world go 'round, even fantasy worlds like Tortall. We get the sense that growing up, Alanna's only friend was her twin brother Thom. Now that she's at the palace, surrounded by kid...

Hey, Shmoopers. You know, we'll never be royals, but it's cool. We can still live that fantasy, thanks to Tamora Pierce. The medieval society she creates Alanna: The First Adventure is heavy on cla...

No gender, no Alanna: The First Adventure. If gender didn't matter in the society of Tortall, Alanna would declare her intention to become a knight, follow through, and everyone would live happily...

Learning to be a knight in Alanna: The First Adventure apparently involves a lot of chivalry, honor, duty, and all that good stuff. It's not just bashing things with swords, since knights are calle...

Alanna glows purple sometimes. That's really all the evidence you need in the case that there is some supernatural and magical stuff going on in Alanna: The First Adventure. Oh, and there's like de...

Alanna is one determined kid: she knows she'll have to masquerade as a boy for the eight years it'll take her to become a knight while also enduring some of the most physically demanding tasks of h...

Who needs a family when you've got friends like these? In Alanna: The First Adventure, Alanna's family inadvertently pushes her into becoming a knight. If Alanna didn't have a twin brother, her pla...

Oh, ten-year-olds, with their Lisa Frank and their Monster High dolls. Aren't they just so cute and innocent? Well, unless they're pages-in-training. In Alanna: The First Adventure, Alanna may look...