Author: Holly Black

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2002

Pages: 320

For Ages: 13 and up

Rating: *** ½

16-year-old Kaye follows her rocker mother from gig to gig until her mom’s boyfriend pulls a knife on them.  They flee to her grandmother’s house on the New Jersey shore, where as a child Kaye hung out with her imaginary friends—the faeries. At least she told her best friend Janet and Janet’s gay brother Corny they were imaginary. Now Kaye finds herself doing brief bits of…magic?   She’s not so sure her childhood friends were imaginary.  When Kaye saves a mysterious knight named Roiben, her search for answers becomes dangerous and Kaye fears she’s risking the lives of everyone she knows. 

Tithe is an interesting mix of delinquent-finds-path-to-life story with a fresh vivid twist on faerie life and a splash of modern day Alice in Wonderland.