Graceling

Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Author's Website: http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/

ISBN: 978-0-15-206396-2

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright Date: 2008

Genre: Fantasy

Reading Level/Interest Age: 15-18

Awards: Booklist starred, 2008. Publisher's Weekly starred, 2008. Kirkus Reviews starred, 2008.

Plot Summary: Katsa, the niece of a King, has an exceptional skill in being able to kill anyone with her bare hands. This skill, coupled with her two toned eyes, mark her as a Graceling. Unbeknownst to her uncle, she protects the innocent throughout the seven kingdoms. When she meets Po, a mind reader, the two pair together to save multiple kingdoms from evil Graceling, Leck.

Critical Evaluation: Cashore moves the story along with great speed. While this book quickly becomes a page turner, there is a lack of development and a certain level of predictability. 

Reader's Annotation: Katsa and Po, two Gracelings with the skill to read minds and kill, help protect the kingdoms with which they live. 

Booktalking Ideas: Good vs. Evil
Challenge issues if any: There is some level of violence, however Katsa goes out of her way to try and avoid killing anyone.

Why did you include this book: This is a fast paced fantasy story, one that takes you out of the everyday world and into one where more things are possible. 
Quote: "They would all say, when they woke to their headaches and their shame, that the culprit had been a Graceling boy, graced with fighting, acting alone. They would assume she was a boy, because in her plain trousers and her hood she looked like one, and because when people were attacked it never occurred to anyone that it might have been a girl."