Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Alanna: The First Adventure is a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce. Originally published in 1983, it is the first in a series of four books, The Song of the Lioness. Set at a time and place where girls are forbidden from becoming knights, the novel details the beginning of Alanna of Trebond's training as a knight as she hides her real gender from teachers and fellow pages. In 2013, Pierce received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in recognition of her two quartets Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small. Edwards Committee Chair Jamie Watson commented that the books in both these quartets "have been influencing both readers and writers of fantasy since their inception".