See full review for Alanna: The First Adventure at: https://toomanybooksnotenoughshelves.... 
 When I was 10, my cousin who got me into Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, and various other things, handed me this book and said 'I think you'll like this. Read it.' And so began my love affair of Tamora Pierce's works. If I'm being completely honest Alanna was the book that really got me interested in fantasy - I mean, sure there was a Harry Potter a few years before, but that was just a taste - and I was a little reluctant to read her works now 15 years later. Books that I loved in my childhood that I've revisited as an adult haven't held the same power for me, and I was afraid the same would be true here. But I'm thankful that that didn't happen. 
 Alanna is still the wonderful story I remembered as a kid.