Tithe (Fantasy)

Citation:  Black, H.  (2002).  Tithe: A modern day faerie tale.  New York, NY:  Margaret K. McElderry Books.  Tr.  $17.99.  ISBN:  9780689849244.  Format:  Hardback.

Annotation:  Tithe is a dark, modern day faerie tale about sixteen-year-old Kaye Fierch, who is used to living on the road.  She and her mother return to her home town to live and Kaye discovers a new world where she becomes torn between sides in a war of faerie realms.

Book Talk:  Is Kaye a normal human girl?  She has always had the ability to see faeries, especially as a little girl.  Now after her mom’s boyfriend attempt to kill her, she is moved back to her hometown for safekeeping, where she begins to see her old faerie friends again.

Kaye saved the life of a faerie called Rioban one evening, and this one act of mercy changes her life forever.  Kaye becomes the eyes and ears of the faerie world in the human world.  As Kaye becomes more involved with the faerie world, she begins to be torn between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the faerie realm.  Why do they need her?  Why is she able to see the faeries when no one else can?  Is Kaye a normal human girl, or is she too a faerie?   

Awards:  Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature (2008), ALA Teens' Top Ten (2003), Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)

More: 

To read more about the author and her other books, visit http://www.blackholly.com/index.html

If you like Tithe, check out the other two books about Holly Black’s faerie realm!