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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
It was a really good story! Aisulu is amazing.
But I didn't like how long some of the chapters were. I mean, one of them was like, 20 pages long! Too much. And some of the parts of the chapters kept going when it seemed like a good time to stop.
I also didn't like how a lot of the too long chapters had parts that were like meant to be really close in time to the first part but did like a break.
Serik: I don't know if I approved of the whole Monica thing. 🤨 That was really weird.
Aisulu: She is best. She is so awesome to Serik, and told people about his limp, saving his life.
Sneering Muscles: LOL I don't freaking care that his real name is Chudruk. I 💕 his nickname 🤣
But I didn't like how long some of the chapters were. I mean, one of them was like, 20 pages long! Too much. And some of the parts of the chapters kept going when it seemed like a good time to stop.
I also didn't like how a lot of the too long chapters had parts that were like meant to be really close in time to the first part but did like a break.
Serik: I don't know if I approved of the whole Monica thing. 🤨 That was really weird.
Aisulu: She is best. She is so awesome to Serik, and told people about his limp, saving his life.
Sneering Muscles: LOL I don't freaking care that his real name is Chudruk. I 💕 his nickname 🤣
The writing here is excellent because it's Erin Bow, and she is an excellent writer. I came away with the impression that it was also well researched and as factually accurate as Bow could make it writing from the perspective of an outsider of the culture. (I know she spent some time in Mongolia prior to writing this.) I fell just short of being able to love it, which is mostly because I am not the right reader for this book. I don't like nature. I hate birds. I also had some questions about character motivation and general characterization of the adults. I do fully intend to add it to all my MG lists and book talk it to the 5th-7th graders. The ones who love realistic fiction and nature will eat this book up.
This was really different from a lot of books I've read in the past. I enjoyed the story, the setting -I haven't read anything about this culture or region really before. Outside of Russian Revolution/history. I would love to read more about other generations or people in this same setting, or more about her uncle and Kara-kat-kis and how their lives were, and what his dreams were... etc.
I am really glad that the main character was allowed to compete, and that the story had a happy ending. Sometimes I feel like the 'happy ending' is being merged with western society even if that's not what the character wants, and I'm genuinely glad this didn't happen here. She got the ending she wanted, that was relevant to her culture.
Recently, I've read a few novels that deal with the alienation a daughter feels from her mother, and the lack of value a society places on the women/girls of their group. I like how this was done, and how Aisulu found a new family in a way, without having to give up or betray herself, her culture, or alienate herself from her biological family. This was sweet, it was uplifting, and it wasn't completely unbelievable.
I will probably look for more novels by this author in the future.
I am really glad that the main character was allowed to compete, and that the story had a happy ending. Sometimes I feel like the 'happy ending' is being merged with western society even if that's not what the character wants, and I'm genuinely glad this didn't happen here. She got the ending she wanted, that was relevant to her culture.
Recently, I've read a few novels that deal with the alienation a daughter feels from her mother, and the lack of value a society places on the women/girls of their group. I like how this was done, and how Aisulu found a new family in a way, without having to give up or betray herself, her culture, or alienate herself from her biological family. This was sweet, it was uplifting, and it wasn't completely unbelievable.
I will probably look for more novels by this author in the future.
I'm a huge Erin Bow fan. I've loved her writing since Plain Kate and that book just gutted me.
Stand on the Sky is her latest book. It's about a girl who has a brother she loves very much. She finds out that something is wrong with his leg, and in a culture based on labor that privileges able bodies, that's unthinkable. The whole family rallies around him and brings him to the city so he can be cured. They completely forget and leave behind Aisulu, who feels the uncertainty, the fear and the abandonment acutely and painfully. Just as she loses her brother, she finds an eagle chick. She names and cares for the chick and she ends up being the first female eagle hunter. She performs and wins at the eagle hunters' contest and wins enough money to get her brother a prosthetic leg.
The bulk of the book, and the most rewarding part, focuses on Aisulu's growing bond with her eagle, who symbolically seems to stand in for the brother she misses and worries desperately about. It's heartwarming to read about Aisulu slowly healing and thawing as she loves and is loved by her eagle, and the found family she finds herself surrounded with, which is a stark contrast to her birth family, who treats her a little like an afterthought. I don't have the words to convey how much emotion, loneliness, grief, pain, heartbreak but also beauty Erin Bow packs into her writing. She uses the most poetic language to convey Aisulu's feelings and it really hits like a punch.
Since Plain Kate, I've noticed that the books are always dedicated to Erin Bow's sister who has passed away, and the huge and destabilising sense of loss she struggles with. It really comes through in the books. The main characters are empathetic, brave and passionate, struggling with loss and going through a slow journey towards healing. I have so much love for them.
So happy to have read this book and I hope Erin Bow comes out with another one soon!! I can't get enough of her books.
Stand on the Sky is her latest book. It's about a girl who has a brother she loves very much. She finds out that something is wrong with his leg, and in a culture based on labor that privileges able bodies, that's unthinkable. The whole family rallies around him and brings him to the city so he can be cured. They completely forget and leave behind Aisulu, who feels the uncertainty, the fear and the abandonment acutely and painfully. Just as she loses her brother, she finds an eagle chick. She names and cares for the chick and she ends up being the first female eagle hunter. She performs and wins at the eagle hunters' contest and wins enough money to get her brother a prosthetic leg.
The bulk of the book, and the most rewarding part, focuses on Aisulu's growing bond with her eagle, who symbolically seems to stand in for the brother she misses and worries desperately about. It's heartwarming to read about Aisulu slowly healing and thawing as she loves and is loved by her eagle, and the found family she finds herself surrounded with, which is a stark contrast to her birth family, who treats her a little like an afterthought. I don't have the words to convey how much emotion, loneliness, grief, pain, heartbreak but also beauty Erin Bow packs into her writing. She uses the most poetic language to convey Aisulu's feelings and it really hits like a punch.
Since Plain Kate, I've noticed that the books are always dedicated to Erin Bow's sister who has passed away, and the huge and destabilising sense of loss she struggles with. It really comes through in the books. The main characters are empathetic, brave and passionate, struggling with loss and going through a slow journey towards healing. I have so much love for them.
So happy to have read this book and I hope Erin Bow comes out with another one soon!! I can't get enough of her books.
Find my original review on my blog: https://wp.me/p8jcuj-2m1
Aisulu and her brother are trapped in a blizzard when they find a hurt eagle. In their culture, only the most talented can train and show eagles. Aisulu's brother is determined to become an eagle trainer, his desperation for the eagle lead to the death of the mother eagle and his broken leg. Aisulu's brother has actually been having trouble with his leg before he broke it and Aisulu's parents take him to the nearest city to have it looked at. Her parents leave without a goodbye and she has no idea what has happened to her family. She also cannot forget about the eagle's baby and travels back into the wilderness to save the young boy eagle. Aisulu with the help of her aunt and uncle, tends to her chores and raises the eagle. She learns how to train it and plans to showcase it in the next tournament. Hopefully, they can will and Aisulu can pay for her brother's medical needs.
This book was so much more than I thought it would be. As I reflect on it more, I realize that I actually liked it more than I expected. Based on the name and culture, I first thought that this was a fantasy novel, but it isn't. I want to learn more about Mongolian Kazakh nomads. This novel digs into what it means to be a girl/boy. It discusses the care of eagles and hunting using eagles. I think this is a perfect book for classrooms and will spark great discussions and educational avenues. I liked the main characters and the growth of all characters described.
Aisulu and her brother are trapped in a blizzard when they find a hurt eagle. In their culture, only the most talented can train and show eagles. Aisulu's brother is determined to become an eagle trainer, his desperation for the eagle lead to the death of the mother eagle and his broken leg. Aisulu's brother has actually been having trouble with his leg before he broke it and Aisulu's parents take him to the nearest city to have it looked at. Her parents leave without a goodbye and she has no idea what has happened to her family. She also cannot forget about the eagle's baby and travels back into the wilderness to save the young boy eagle. Aisulu with the help of her aunt and uncle, tends to her chores and raises the eagle. She learns how to train it and plans to showcase it in the next tournament. Hopefully, they can will and Aisulu can pay for her brother's medical needs.
This book was so much more than I thought it would be. As I reflect on it more, I realize that I actually liked it more than I expected. Based on the name and culture, I first thought that this was a fantasy novel, but it isn't. I want to learn more about Mongolian Kazakh nomads. This novel digs into what it means to be a girl/boy. It discusses the care of eagles and hunting using eagles. I think this is a perfect book for classrooms and will spark great discussions and educational avenues. I liked the main characters and the growth of all characters described.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A middle grade book about love between a girl and her eagle. It also proves and women can do the things men do, and that there’s nothing wrong with that. Such an inspiring story! I did find the beginning kind of slow and boring tho, but it definitely got better!!
This is an amazing book with a strong will protagonist, who doens’t so much defy traditions, but traditions defy her. She is not supposed to be an eagle trainer. That is a job for boys. But fate and her eagle think otherwise, and so with great pleasure, she peruses this task.
The research in this book is amazing. You feel as though you are in this land.
And the eagles, the wild golden eagles are just as real.
The hardest part of reading a really good book, such as this one, is that eventually it will end, and you will have to find another book to read.
And it won’t be the other books fault that it is not as good as this one.
Bow takes your heart, and rips it to shreads, but a good shreads. Great ending. Highly recommend it to all of you out there, even if you don’t read middle-grade books.
The research in this book is amazing. You feel as though you are in this land.
And the eagles, the wild golden eagles are just as real.
The hardest part of reading a really good book, such as this one, is that eventually it will end, and you will have to find another book to read.
And it won’t be the other books fault that it is not as good as this one.
Bow takes your heart, and rips it to shreads, but a good shreads. Great ending. Highly recommend it to all of you out there, even if you don’t read middle-grade books.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one we received as an ARC from our local library, so we neither bought it nor checked it out, like we usually do.
But oh, am I glad my daughter got this one! THIS is a fantastic read. We can't gush enough about this one.
The story is simple at its core: a girl does what she must to save her brother's life.
Except in context -- Mongolia in an undetermined year not far from the present -- it's far more difficult than that.
Because when Aisulu rescues the eagle chick she and her brother, Serik, inadvertently sentence to die by breaking its mother's wing (thus killing her), she's taking a revolutionary stand -- a first step in the journey to becoming a burkitshi, an eagle hunter.
But it is always the eagle that chooses the burkitshi, and we balled our eyes out in the end!
This is a MUST read.
And if you're interested in some astounding pictures, real-life pictures, of the inspiration for the MC (because the author did her homework and traveled to Mongolia to write this story!), check out this unaffiliated, but related, story link: Photographer Captures One of the Last Surviving Female Eagle Hunters of Mongolia
And there's a trailer for a documentary, The Eagle Huntress, which really brings the words / story alive. I love to see both forms of a story -- the documentary, non-fiction, and the fictitious. Both book and movie are simply stunning.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
But oh, am I glad my daughter got this one! THIS is a fantastic read. We can't gush enough about this one.
The story is simple at its core: a girl does what she must to save her brother's life.
Except in context -- Mongolia in an undetermined year not far from the present -- it's far more difficult than that.
Because when Aisulu rescues the eagle chick she and her brother, Serik, inadvertently sentence to die by breaking its mother's wing (thus killing her), she's taking a revolutionary stand -- a first step in the journey to becoming a burkitshi, an eagle hunter.
But it is always the eagle that chooses the burkitshi, and we balled our eyes out in the end!
This is a MUST read.
And if you're interested in some astounding pictures, real-life pictures, of the inspiration for the MC (because the author did her homework and traveled to Mongolia to write this story!), check out this unaffiliated, but related, story link: Photographer Captures One of the Last Surviving Female Eagle Hunters of Mongolia
And there's a trailer for a documentary, The Eagle Huntress, which really brings the words / story alive. I love to see both forms of a story -- the documentary, non-fiction, and the fictitious. Both book and movie are simply stunning.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
