The Greater Rochester

Teen Book Festival

"To foster a community effort to celebrate and promote reading by connecting teens and authors."

Tamora Pierce
"I was born in South Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on December 13, 1954, which makes me a Sagittarius, if you believe in such things. For those who look to eastern tradition, I was born in the Year of the Horse. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara," but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate had never heard of such a fancy name (we are talking Pennsylvania coal country in the 1950s), so she misspelled it, and I legitimately became Tamora (pronounced like "camera"). I actually like it better than Tamara, which means "graceful" and "a palm tree," and is the name of a Russian saint. I am none of these things."

Books by Tamora Pierce

 

                                                             Sandry’s Book (Circle of Magic Series)
Four young misfits find themselves living in a strictly disciplined temple community where they become friends while also learning to do crafts and to use their powers, especially magic.


 

                                                             Tris’s Book (Circle of Magic Series)
With the defenses of Winding Circle Temple seriously weakened by an earthquake, Tris and her fellow mages-in-training try to join their different magic powers to protect the Winding Circle community from a pirate attack.


       

                                                                                   
                                                             Daja’s Book (Circle of Magic Series)
While at Gold Ridge castle to the north of Winding Circle, Daja and the three other mages-in-training who have become her friends develop their unique magical talents as they try to prevent a devastating forest fire from consuming everything in its path.

 

                                                                                    
                                                            Biar’s Book (Circle of Magic Series)
Briar, a young mage-in-training, and his teacher Rosethorn must use their magic to fight a deadly plague that is ravaging Summersea.




 

                                                                                     Magic Steps (Circle Opens Series) 
Fourteen-year-old Lady Sandrilene Fa Toren is honing her skills as a weaver of magic. When Sandry discovers a young boy named Pasco, who possesses the unusual talent for dancing spells, she undertakes to teach the boy in the ways of magic. Meanwhile, members of a wealthy merchant family are turning up brutally murdered, their severed heads displayed in public places.
 

 

                                                                                     
                                                                                                            Street magic (Circle Opens Series)
Former "street rat" Briar Moss must face his past when he discovers a young mage in need of a mentor.

 

                                                                                                    


                                                                                                        Cold Fire (Circle Opens Series) 
While studying with her teacher Frostpine in the northern land of Namorn, Daja helps the twin daughters of her host family discover their own magic and uses her powers to track an deadly arsonist.

                                                                             
                                                                                   Shatterglass (Circle Opens Series) 
Tris and her mage-student, a young man whose glassmaking magic has been amplified and mixed with lightning, team up to track a killer who may be nearer than they suspect.


 

 

                                                                            Trickster’s Choice (Daughter of the Lioness Series)
Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy.


 

  

                                                                               Tickster’s Queen (Daughter of the Lioness Series)
Aly fails to foresee the dangers that await as she uses her magic to safeguard Dova and her younger siblings, despite knowing that her thirteen-year-old charge might be queen of the Copper Isles when the colonial rulers are defeated.

 

 

                                                                                                            Wild Magic (Immortal Series)
The mage Numair, the knight Alanna, and Queen Thayet enlist thirteen-year-old Daine's help to battle the dreadful immortal creatures that have recently begun to attack the kingdom of Tortall.

 

 

                                                                                                                   Wolf-Speaker (Immortal Series)
With the help of her animal friends, Daine fights to save the kingdom of Tortall from ambitious mortals and dangerous immortals.

 

 

                                                                                                                    Emperor Mage (Immortal Series)
When she is sent as part of the delegation from Tortall to negotiate a peace treaty with Carthak, fifteen-year-old Daine must use her powers to communicate with animals for more than healing the Carthak emperor's dying birds.

 

 

                                                                                                             The Realms of the Gods (Immortal Series) 
While in the mystical realms of the gods along with Nunair, Daine learns the secrets of her past and the implications for her future as she and Nunair are compelled to return to the mortal world of Tortall to help fight against the immortals.
 

 
 

                                                                                 First Test (Protector of the Small Series)
Ten-year-old Keladry of Mindalen, daughter of nobles, serves as a page but must prove herself to the males around her if she is ever to fulfill her dream of becoming a knight.

  

 

       
                                                                               Page (Protector of the Small Series)
Keladry of Mindelan continues her training to become a squire with the aid of a new maid, the support of her friends, interference from some other pages, and some serious, even dangerous opposition.


 

 

                                                                                Squire (Protector of the Small Series)
After becoming a squire to Lord Raoul, commander of the King's Own, Kel of Mindelan, must face a terrifying test in the Chamber of the Ordeal before she can be a knight.


 

 

                                                                               Lady Knight (Protector of the Small Series)
When she became a knight, eighteen-year-old Kel hoped to be given a combat post, but instead she finds herself named commander of an outpost of refugees, where she must face the unnatural forces of the evil Balyce.

 

 

                                                                                                              Alanna The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness Series)
The tomboyish, adventuresome Alanna becomes a knight and a shaman over the course of her trials in the Song of the Lioness quartet.

 

 

                                                                                                              In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lioness Series)
                                                    Alanna's journey continues...

 

 

 

                                                                                                                The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness Series)
Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a duel to the death. Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman — despite the desert dwellers' grave fear of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must fight to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes.

 

   
                                                                                                               Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness Series)
Alanna and new companions journey to the Roof of the World seeking the powerful Dominion Jewel, perhaps the last hope of saving her country from dissension and hostile magic when a new challenge arises. She must recover the Dominion Jewel, a legendary gem with enormous power for good -- but only in the right hands. Alanna's archenemy, Duke Roger, is back -- and more powerful than ever.

 

                                                                      Terrier (Beka Cooper Series)
Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character, is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.

 

                                                                                                                      The Will of the Empress
When Sandry's uncle promises guards to accompany her- they're hardly a group of warriors! They're her old friends from Winding Circle: Daja, Tris, and Briar. Sandry hardly knows them now. They're grown up and grown apart.  It slowly dawns on Sandry why the Empress has really brought her to Namorn. She's set a cunning trap to keep Sandry in the brutal Empire forever, a simpering courtier in her cousin's court and the miserable wife of a noble.