Winterling by Sarah Prineas

Jennifer, called Fer, rides a regular school bus to a regular school, like any other girl.  But she has always felt more at home in the forest around the farm where she lives with her grandmother.  One day she saves a strange boy from a pack of wolves.  The boy, Robin, is from another world, and Fer follows him back through "the way" to the place where her mother had been the true lady of the land.  Now that world is threatened by an evil force, and the longer Fer stays there, the more she realizes that it is her job to cleanse the land of the evil and set things to rights. This is a good, standard kind of strong girl fantasy.  Fer starts out as an unruly kid who doesn't fit but as the story progresses she gradually comes to recognize and accept her own power and the responsibility that goes with it.  She is  a likable character, and one that fantasy-loving girls will easily relate with.  The writing is fairly good, too, with nice description and flow.  The story ends, but is clearly the first of a series. (265  p)