The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations

After having read our California grandchildren The Wizard of Oz (120 years old) and Blue Willow (80-year-old Newbery Honor book), I told them the next cross-continent choice would be a JUST PUBLISHED true narrative. They loved it and learned so much from hearing Aisholpan’s progression as a golden eagle hunter. A globe and a dictionary joined with our reading to introduce them to a new, engrossing lifestyle and unfamiliar part of the world. Thanks to this incredibly brave young woman for sharing her rite of passage, and to sensitive and balanced memoir co-author Liz Welch. Liz has authorial experience in this field, an instinctive cultural appreciation, and the wise writer’s knowledge of her audience. I am so glad that our 6 and 8-year-old grandchildren had this perfect introduction to biography enveloped in just the right mix of new vocabulary, geography, and loving familial support. We followed up the reading with a Blu-Ray DVD of Otto Bell’s documentary. It didn’t hurt that The Eagle Huntress opens with its protagonist right there in the children's hometown: Los Angeles!

Liz Welch appears to have climbed into a pre-arranged vehicle -physically and metaphorically- and beelined it to Aisholpan and her parent's place and then back to the airport in order to write this memoir up with/for Aisholpan et al..The shoddy research is so apparent that this memoir is destined to be an example of memorable research negligence. The suggested reading list barely touches upon the eagle hunting culture and is emblematic of the shallowness of inquiry. There is no consultant listed and it cannot be overemphasized how important it was for Liz Welch to have read academic works on heritage tourism and the Altaic golden eagle festival scene, conservation issues related to nest-taken baby eagles versus wild- trapped subadult passage eagles, and the history of Kazakh and other female eagle hunters. The 'voice' of this memoir, as noted by Kirkus Reviews, is "mediated by Welch and Nurgaiv’s voice is inconsistent". I would go further to suggest that the resultant 'voice' is content-controlled by the The Eagle Huntress filmmaking storytellers who brought Aisholpan to fame for their own profit. There is a troubling lack of transparency coursing through this memoir: Welch has given Aisholpan's words an aura of self-mythologizing humble-brag that is, indeed, off-putting. A co-authored "memoir" by someone so young lacks sophisticated retrospection. While Aisholpan postures herself as an emblem of nomadic culture, she was marketed to the western audiences as an emblem of nomadic culture in need of her as its 'feminist savior', with a modest "smash the patriarchy" heart and "evolved" feminist parents. Although Aisholpan clearly has enjoyed the fun, fame, and gains brought to her and her family –and who would blame her-– her self-propaganda is clearest when one learns more about traditional Kazakh eagle hunting culture itself. To believe the golden eagle festival scene is representative of traditional eagle hunting culture is similar to believing that hula show at a Waikiki dive bar is as deep as one would need to look when trying to learn about indigenous Hawaiian culture.

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I bought this for my Grandson 7. He loved it and was inspired by her story. It’s a wonderfully written testimony of her experiences.

Beautiful story of a young girls dream, passion and gift. Fearless and relentless. I'm so inspired by Aisholpan. Thank you so much for telling your story.

I bought this book to donate to my child's middle school library--but first devoured it in one sitting, myself! While I'm sure that boys will love this book as well, I especially hope that it will be read, even taught, to girls everywhere. Aisholpan's story of training and competing with her beloved eagle is mesmerizing and a beautiful lesson in grit and perseverance. The fact that we get to follow our forthright and feisty heroine from her home in Mongolia to Los Angeles where she is the guest of honor at a showing of the documentary she stars in makes the story feel all the more relevant to the North American reader, who will most likely want to travel to Mongolia in turn. But what I loved most about the book were the little details that made me believe Aisholpan was telling us the story, herself. Crystalline descriptions like that of the "grey suede embroidered suit" that makes her sweat in the Los Angeles heat and the sour cheese "rocks" her mother makes, "so hard, you could chip a tooth on them if you were not careful" are both spare and utterly evocative. This is a book ABOUT a young person written FOR young people, which is why I take objection to the one-star reviewer who complained that "a co-authored 'memoir' by someone so young lacks sophisticated retrospection." What 11-year-old reader wants "sophisticated retrospection"? None that I've met. This book is perfectly suited to its audience, who will lose themselves in its expertly recreated world and its utterly compelling story.

Now, I was a little old for this book, but even so it sent a spark through me. The balance between Khazahk culture and woman's struggle for equality was blissfuly composed. Aisholpan is so inspiring and the book shows us so much about her family's lifestyle, the act of eagle hunting, and adds a realistic fiction element of family relationships. Overall, I thought Liz Welch did an amazing job teaching us about the beautiful art of eagle hunting and the empowering woman: Aisholpan.

My daughter received this book for her 10th birthday and was unable to put it down. I was unfamiliar with the story, but was so taken by her response that I was compelled to read it myself. This is the true life story of a young girl who, with the eventual support of her family, was able to compete in a sport traditionally reserved for boys and men. The experiences Aisholpan has to become an eagle huntress demonstrate a strength of character and determination that children will be inspired and moved by. I know my daughter certainly was. Highly recommend this book to readers young and old.

大変読みやすく、内容もしっかりした少女の成長の物語でした。鷹狩りならぬワシ狩りに挑んだ15歳の少女が、周囲からの心ない蔑視や冷笑をものともせず、モンゴルの伝統的な狩りの技と鷲への愛着と自分自身の能力を証明したい気持ちからひたすら戦い抜いたことが素晴らしかったです。キツネやオオカミを狩り、手柄を立てた鷲にウサギの足を褒美として与える風習についても学べました。ただ、少女がもっと苦しみ悩み、社会的な困難に打ち勝つ物語であったら深い感動があったろうにと思います。あまりにも淡々とした回顧録であったのがちょっぴり残念でした。