The Blue Sword (Newbery Honor Roll)

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

"McKinley's spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight... a compelling portrait of the vibrant, wryly humorous Harry." -School Library Journal, starred review

"This is a zesty, romantic heroic...." -Booklist, starred review

Awards:

( A 1983 Newbery Honor Book
( An ALA Notable Book
( An ALA Best Book for Young Adults