A Beautiful Friendship, 1 -- David Weber

<b><i>New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal</i> and international bestselling phenomenon David Weber delivers the first entry in an original young adult science fiction adventure series, the Star Kingdom saga! Young teen Stephanie Harrington forms a telepathic bond with an intelligent alien treecat on a pioneer planet--and must fight for the freedom of her new friend and his species against highly-placed enemies determined to claim the world for humans only.</b> <p/>Stephanie Harrington always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl . . . until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the far distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home --- a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie's explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no trips into the bush without adult supervision! <p/>Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries, and the biggest one of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species. <p/>The forest-dwelling treecats are small, cute, smart, and have a pronounced taste for celery. And they are also very, <i>very</i> deadly when they or their friends are threatened . . . as Stephanie discovers when she comes face-to-face with Sphinx's most lethal predator after a hang-gliding accident. <p/>But her discoveries are only beg