Valiant

From School Library Journal Gr 4–6—When her distant, brutal father is struck ill, Saville decides to disguise herself as a boy in order to obtain and fulfill his tailoring commissions for the king. She needs to buy medicine for her dying father, and feed herself and the starving boy she has taken in, Will. But the kingdom of Reggen, under the weak and cowardly King Eldin, is besieged by giants ruled by an evil, monstrous duke. Trapped in her male disguise, Saville becomes an unwitting (and unwilling) giant-killer, tricking two giant emissaries into returning Will, whom they have captured, unharmed and leaving Reggen. Using a trick of squeezing whey from a stone (in actuality a piece of cheese) and throwing a rock (actually a bird) so high that it never lands, Saville convinces the two young giants of her incredible strength and sends them back to die at the hands of their duke. Now, still devastated by their deaths, she must take on the entire army of giants alone while being expected to marry the princess as a reward. Meanwhile, she is falling in love with the king's cousin and adviser, Lord Verras, who has guessed that she is not who she pretends to be. McGuire's reluctant heroine is irritatingly given to introspection at the height of danger, and readers will sometimes wonder how she ever manages to escape death. In the end, however, Saville's intelligence, intuition, and compassion prove more powerful than weaponry and force, and in the spirit of "The Brave Little Tailor" by the Brothers Grimm (note the reference to Savile Row, London's famous street of bespoke tailoring), she vanquishes evil and ultimately achieves a "happily ever after." The romance is nuanced with a delicate hand. VERDICT A good choice for those who have finished all of Gail Carson Levine's fairy tale retellings.—Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City Review

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