Stand on the Sky - Erin Bow

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⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

This middle-grade book is set in Mongolia, and revolves around the Kazakh people living there, who have a long tradition of raising boys to be eagle hunters. This book does an AMAZING job immersing you in this place and culture, with so many fascinating details about their way of life.

The main character is Aisulu, a 12-year-old girl who loves her brother, but gets ignored because she's a girl. When her brother gets hurt and has to go away to a hospital, she defies tradition and rescues and trains an eagle to enter a competition and try to save him. So cool! Aisulu reflects a lot about what it means to be a girl who doesn't fit what tradition says she should be, about home and family. I'm obviously not the target audience, but I loved it.

Something to think about once again, though, is that this was written by a white, Canadian author (who lives in Kitchener!). She spent time in Mongolia and obviously did a lot of research, but it'd be great to get a Mongolian voice about this. Reading this book did push me to seek out some books written by Mongolians as well.

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