Graceling

  I like the back of the book where it says that Graceling was inspired by Kristin Cashore's daydream about a girl with extraordinary powers.  I think, as little girls, most of us have heard stories or made up our own stories about powerful, heroic, female.  Whether it be about princesses, or your older sister, or even someone you wanted to be when you were older. 

  I think that Kristin Cashore did a really good job of relating Katsa to 16 year old girls of today. She took a powerful teenage girl, who could kill men with a flick of the wrist, and made her relatable. Like how we discussed in class, Katsa was self concious, she struggled with fitting in and feeling accepted, she dealt with parental pressure (from the King), and did not see the beauty in herself that others saw.  Hmm, doesn't that sound kind of familiar? I think most every girl can relate to all of the above.  

   I really liked how, instead of a "normal" high school non-fiction novel, Kristin Cashore took our heroine and placed her into medieval times.  It made the story much more interesting and fun to ready, and gave us as readers a different picture to paint in our imagination. For example, instead of just making Katsa a tomboy, she made her a warrior/knight.