#protectorofthesmall

First Test (Protector of the Small Book 1) by Tamora Pierce, graphic novel adaptation by Devin Grayson and Becca Farrow. RH Graphic, 2024. 9780307931566. 160pp.

It's been over 20 years since I read one of Pierce's YA fantasy novels, but I continue to recommend her books to kids and their parents. I'm happy to say this graphic novel adaptation captures the spirit of the original, particularly the friendships.

Keladry is the only girl accepted into training as a knight. Despite Alanna's martial prowess -- she's a female knight -- Lord Wyldon, who is in charge of the new pages, puts Kel on probation for a year. If she can't convince him she belongs with the boys in her class, he'll send her home. But from the way Kel handles herself at home in Mindelan -- she takes on several boys trying to drown a bag of cats, and then a giant spider creature -- it's clear there's no reason to worry about how well Kel can fight. The bullies she has to deal with are awful, it's clear she's had more martial arts training than the other pages, and she's forced to work harder than everyone else. (I never doubted for a moment that she'd find a way to hang on.)

I was today years old when I realized that Wyldon’s fiefdom is Cavall, which is Latin for horse.

Caval is a significant word as well because the French word for horse, cheval, is where the word “chivalry” comes from. Most of us know chivalry as a code of conduct, but originally, all it meant was that you were rich enough to own a horse and outfit oneself as soldier. It later became associated with knighthood and certain ideal behaviors. The code of chivalry came during the middle ages and was about honor, nobility, religion, and being a strong person who protects the weak.

So Wyldon, who is teaching people how to be knights, who is by all accounts a paradigm of knighthood (minus putting Kel on probation and all that), is literally from a fief that is the embodiment of chivalry.

I started reading the Protector of the Small books when I was around 11 or 12, and I have re-read them every year or so.

I also majored in English and took an Arthurian literature course where we talked about chivalry for three months and even watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and talked about the significance of having a movie about knights where there are no horses (no chivalry).