YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #7: The Beast Player
Title: The Beast Player Author: Nahoko Uehashi (translated by Cathy Hirano) Category: Printz Award Title Elin is only a girl of ten when her mother is sentenced to death for failing in her sacred duty of caring for the Toda, water serpents used in battle by their military. Elin tries to rescue her mother from death, but at the last moment her mother saves her, using a strange ability to transport her far away. There, Elin is taken in by a elderly beekeeper, who quickly takes to the intelligent, curious girl as his own child. Elin is good with animals, and fascinated by the beautiful Royal Beasts that live in the wild - enough to journey to a special school to learn to care for them when she is of age. It is here that Elin discovers a secret, one that could change the world - she can communicate with the Royal Beasts, and form bonds with them that no one else has been able to. As Elin's own desire to let the animals be free wars with the desire of the royalty to ...