Page by Tamora Pierce

Pages: 268
Rating: 8/10
Main Conflict: Suprisingly, Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages, has allowed Keladry of Mindelan to return to the palace to be trained as a page after her probationary year. But in addition to the prejudices that come from being the only female training to become a page, she begins to go through puberty, developing something like a crush on her best friend, Neal. Can she make it through training and the final exams and become a squire, while dealing with all these other problems?
Best Part: Keladry and some other pages are sent to hunt game for their fellow pages. But they find them selves attacked by a group of bandits on horseback. The odds are not good. How can 3 pages with bows, 3 with staffs, and 2 mages fight of 20 cavalrymen? Suprisingly, when the leader of the party is struck dumb in shock, everyone looks to Keladry for leadership. She has the mages blind the horseman while she leads them up a thin passageway and has the archers fire on the bandits while she calls the alarm. The reinforcements come, but by that time the bandits have been reduced to half their number by Keladry's quick thinking.