The Badger Knight — Kathryn Erskine

The boy is small for his age. And sickly.

It doesn't help that his albinism makes his hair so white that those he meets wonder if he's an angel or a devil. Or that bullies call him "badger" for the dirt he puts under his eyes to cut the glare from his milk-white skin. Though he suffers many afflictions, all Adrian wants is to become apprenticed and go off to war.

Despite his physical limitations, Adrian's mind is sharp. He can write well, and Father believes war is not the path his son should take. Better to become a scribe.

But it's the year 1346 and war beckons. When the Scots invade England and Adrian's best friend, Hugh, runs off to find his father and fight in battles, Adrian follows, intent on finding Hugh and joining him in glorious warfare against the pagans invading England from the north.

That's when the adventure begins -- and an unforgettable journey that includes street gangs, monks, villains, and knights.

But the real expedition is the one that unfolds within Adrian. The true voyage is how he begins to question what he's been taught about the enemy and the nature of war. And why this boy, once frail, seizes his identity as the Badger to discover strength he never knew belonged to him.

National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine delivers an epic novel that takes readers by the hand from its very first page, grips, and doesn't let go.