The Forgotten Warrior

The Forgotten Warrior, by Kathi Orem Peterson is a great fiction novel for teens of any religion. I say of any religion because the main character in this book, Syd, time travels back to a time in the Book of Mormon. It's not really teaching you "Mormon Principles" or trying to "convert" you to the Mormon church, but it's teaching to you the importance of family and to have faith.
Sydney Morgan is a sixteen-year-old girl with a black-belt in karate. She lives with her mom, who teaches karate classes, and her younger sister, Gracie, whom is mentally challenged. Even if her dad abandoned them ten years ago when she was six, she thinks her life is perfect... until her mom gets diagnosed with cancer.
When Syd visits her mom at the hospital, her mom asks her to look for her dad. Why? Syd doesn't know. Was her mom insane? She obediently finds him and tells him about Mom. At the hospital, her parents ask her to check on Gracie.
However, Sydney didn't get to see Gracie that night. She bumps into two strange men, who asked her to deliver a backpack to some guy named Steve. Reluctantly, she does the favor. On her way to deliver the backpack, accompanied by a Great Dane name Ximon, she drops the backpack right when she's about to deliver it to Steve. She picks up the white stone that fell out, but as she did, it started to glow and everything went black.
She wakes up and finds herself in a tent. She realizes that the man having a conversation is Captain Helaman himself. For some weird reason they didn't see her but as she got out of the tent, some guy attacks her and puts a knife to her throat. She realizes that he's one of the stripling warriors named Tarik. Being a black-belt in karate, her instincts kick in and she attacks and beats him... knocking him out. Now Captain Helaman and everybody else thinks she's a Lamanite spy... and a boy because of her short hair. The white stone that transported her to this time isn't great help either. It turns out that the stone is one of the sacred stones that the Lord touched when the brother of Jared asked for light. Helaman now thinks she's a thief and sends her to be imprisoned.
Tarik, being the second in command in the army, is furious that Syd "bested him". Captain Helaman even asked him to stay behind in camp than to go fight so that Tarik could "babysit" Syd. The next day, Captain Helaman sends for Tarik and Syd. During their journey, Tarik finds out that Syd is a girl... not a boy. While he gets a littler angrier, thinking she's not only a spy, but a liar as well, Sydney can't help but think how handsome he is.
When they arrive, they find it awkward and dangerous to be around each other when everyone else thinks Syd's a boy. She has been asked to teach the warriors karate! Now she goes crazy. This isn't her war. Her war is back home where her mom might be dying in a hospital bed and where Gracie needs her help because she's mentally challenged.
Will Sydney ever go home? And when she does, will it be harder to say good-bye to Tarik? Or will she stay in that era for the rest of her life?
This is a really interesting book because some of us can make text-to-text connections. There are some parts where it gets kind of cheesy but sometimes you can connect yourself with Sydney. I want to agree with K.L. Fogg, author of the Serpent Tide series, when she says "... [it] proves that faith can make us strong in spite of our weakness." I really like how K.O.P.  shows how important family is and how everything happens for a special purpose.
This is definitely a great book you want to read in which you can relate to. Again, it teaches faith and family importance. I really enjoyed reading it. Grade: A :)