Stand on the Sky
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A gripping new read from Erin Bow, acclaimed and bestselling author of Plain Kate and The Scorpion Rules!
Aisulu is a Kazakh nomad girl living in Mongolia. She has always been a bit different — she likes girl things well enough and milks the yaks and fetches water as a daughter should, but she also likes math and a fast ride on her horse, Moon Spot, which she tamed herself.
But when her brother Selik breaks his leg trying to catch an eagle, and is discovered to have osteosarcoma, everything changes! While her parents rush off to the city with her brother, Aisulu moves in with her aunt and her uncle, a former Burkitshi (eagle hunger). Seeing her attachment to a rescued eaglet, her uncle begins training Aisulu to become an eagle hunter herself, even though she is a girl, and girls do not become eagle hunters.
Aisulu is not sure she can do it — but when she finds out that there will be a Festival in town with a prize that could help buy her brother an expensive prosthetic leg, she knows she has to try! The odds are stacked against her, but Aisulu is determined to prove herself and help her family.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Mongolia, 12-year-old Aisulu chafes at the expectations of her Kazakh community, which confines her to "girls' work," despite her skills in math, science, and horseback riding: "In a land where girls are supposed to have hearts made of milk, Aisulu had a heart made of sky." Aisulu, concerned about her older brother, Serik, betrays his confidence about his persistent limp after he breaks his leg, and he is sent for medical treatment. While her sibling and parents are away, Aisulu rescues an orphaned eaglet. She begins to feel as if she could be one of the burkitshi, the eagle hunters, and she and her bird prepare to compete in the Eagle Festival, with a monetary prize that could fund the medical treatment Serik needs. Though her uncle's wife says "there have been women with eagles since ancient days," Aisulu's father thinks her inclusion will defy local convention. The narrative traces Aisulu's growth, including her shifting role within her community, her burgeoning relationship with her eagle, and her maturing sense of self. And while Bow (Sorrow's Knot) creates a vivid sense of place, she is writing from outside the culture, drawing from a home stay with a family of nomadic eagle hunters. Her lyrical work of fiction offers readers and educators an opportunity to explore essential questions about cultural appropriation and the #OwnVoices movement. Ages 10 12.
