National Book Award–winner Katheryn Erskine (Mockingbird) again displays her skill at telling a story through a narrator's particular perspective.
In his first-person account, Adrian explains that he's nicknamed "the Badger" because of his pale, ghostlike appearance and tendency to smudge his eyes to cut the glare from his light skin. At 12, he is small and sickly, and generally not well regarded in his village: "A few people say being tiny and white as an angel is a good omen, but far more say I'm evil." Readers will recognize his dream of becoming an archer and famous knight as unrealistic. Invading Scots threaten the lives of those in 1346 England. War entices Badger with thoughts of escaping the farm and becoming a hero, but when he follows his best friend, Hugh, to battle, he learns peril is not reserved for the battlefield alone: his journey is fraught with more danger and adventure than he'd imagined possible. Badger discovers a world in which truth is not black or white, but instead rather like his smudged face: "I think of what I always believed to be truths... and how all these 'truths' aren't real at all."
Adrian compensates for his feelings of insecurity with his Badger persona, which gives him strength. His story remains the journey of all children who struggle to find their place in the world. The vocabulary-dense historical setting may be challenging for new chapter book readers, but those willing to use the book's glossary will be rewarded with a rich medieval tale. --Jessica Bushore, former public librarian and freelance writer