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Level I Winner - Hannah Soyer
Beaver Creek Elementary School, Johnston
"Song of the Lioness" series by Tamara Pierce

 

Dear Tamora Pierce,

 

            Probably ever since I was born I've longed for adventure.  More than anyone I know.  I'd even spend my spare time reading about adventures and dreaming I was the hero/heroine.  See, to others, adventure is nothing new.  It lies in their future like cats waiting to pounce.  But my dreams of changing the world have always ended in me knowing that that will never happen:  I've been confined to a wheelchair since birth.  Even if I could go back in time, I wouldn't be able to take up the role of your heroine, Alanna.  I probably wouldn't even have been able to lift a sword.  My future was adventure-less.

           As soon as I read your series, Song of the Lioness, I knew I'd been wrong about my future for a very long time.  Alanna's life reminded me so much of my own, I felt like I could sink into the pages of the book and tell the story myself.  As Alanna changed from a nobody in Alanna:  The First Adventure to a legend in Lioness Rampant, I could feel myself changing too.  I have as much chance of becoming a somebody and having adventures as anybody else, I'll just have to try harder than most people.

          Being in a wheelchair doesn't seem like such a bad thing anymore.  It can have its advantages.  If I was just an ordinary girl, I probably would have read your series without thinking twice about it.

           If you can't choose your circumstances, like being a girl or having muscular dystrophy, you might as well learn to overcome them.  Song of the Lioness gave me faith and hope, and I'd like to thank you for opening a door for me.

 

Sincerely,

 Hannah Soyer, Grade 5