I was thinking and I had to post something I should have a long time ago. I want to congragulate Tammy on the issues she addressed in Page.
In her other books (which of corse we all adore) she didn't address real world issues, but insted plunged us into a beatiful fantisy world. Yet in Page, she brings up important problems we are faced with all the time.
The most obvious is sexual abuse. Lalasa is constantly harrased by nobles and more important servents. Kel is faced with the realazation that there is little she can do to mend this problem. Page doesn't offer solutions, but insted makes us more aware of this problem in our lives. I'm sure some of us will have to face sexual abuse at some point and will remeber Kel's bravery as she defened Lalasa.
Another thing Tamora Pierce brings up is homosexulaity. She writes '"Some men prefer other men. Some women prefer other women." Kel shrugged.' This is something Kel accepts and it doesn't faze her. I sincerly hope that is the view of all Tamora Pierce fans, though unfortanatly this is probably not the case. Few books for children and teens brings up gay people at all. (On the bright side, shows like Dawson's Creek and Buffy have gay characters on them and these are obviously teen shows.) It is usally glossed over in our education. If our's parents don't bring it up, we learn from friends. I was very glad Tamora Pierce stated Kel's views, because it's such an important issue. The bad guy, Joren, being homophobic mentioned also.
Kel isn't gorgous or even skinny. This is excedingly rare in the media where everyone is perfect. Still, Cleon has fallen for her. Its nice to have a happy, succesful character who doesn't have an ideal body type.
Tamora Pierce is truly a gifted writer and I hope she brings up issues that are important to us in her later books.
