The Ropemaker

For fantasy lovers, I highly recommend this extremely creative and intelligently put-together novel, The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson.

Tilja is heartbroken when she learns that she does not possess any magic abilities, which are passed down from generation to generation in the female line of her family. Those who inherit these abilities stay on the family homestead and sing to the cedars in the snow, listening to the voices of the forest, and keeping the magic that protects their people from the Empire alive and strong.
But when that magic starts to fade, Tilja is chosen, despite her inability to hear the voices, to go on a quest to find the one man who can help save the people of the valley. And it turns out that her inability to sense and perform magic is an extraordinary power in and of itself.

This novel was shortlisted for the Whitbread and won the Printz Honor in 2002. Recommended for grades 7-10.