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The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations
The subject of the award-winning documentary The Eagle Huntress tells the true story of how she became the first girl to compete in -- and win -- one of Mongolia's most prestigious competitions.
In this compelling memoir, teenaged eagle hunter Aisholpan Nurgaiv tells her own story for the first time, speaking directly with award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Liz Welch (I Will Always Write Back), who traveled to Mongolia for this book. Nurgaiv's story and fresh, sincere voice are not only inspiring but truly magnificent: with the support of her father, she captured and trained her own golden eagle and won the Ölgii eagle festival. She was the only girl to compete in the festival.
Filled with stunning photographs, The Eagle Huntress is a striking tale of determination -- of a girl who defied expectations and achieved what others declared impossible. Aisholpan Nurgaiv's story is both unique and universally relatable: a memoir of survival, empowerment, and the positive impact of one person's triumph.
In this compelling memoir, teenaged eagle hunter Aisholpan Nurgaiv tells her own story for the first time, speaking directly with award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Liz Welch (I Will Always Write Back), who traveled to Mongolia for this book. Nurgaiv's story and fresh, sincere voice are not only inspiring but truly magnificent: with the support of her father, she captured and trained her own golden eagle and won the Ölgii eagle festival. She was the only girl to compete in the festival.
Filled with stunning photographs, The Eagle Huntress is a striking tale of determination -- of a girl who defied expectations and achieved what others declared impossible. Aisholpan Nurgaiv's story is both unique and universally relatable: a memoir of survival, empowerment, and the positive impact of one person's triumph.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2020
13 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 2, 2020
The story of the real-life eagle huntress is so compelling in print. I can't wait to see the documentary. Last year I read the book "Stand On the Sky" by Erin Bow which has many similarities to Aisholpan's story. There are not many books about eagle hunting and the nomads of Mongolia. It is a culture most of us are totally out of touch with. I can see why tourists flock to their location in the warmer months.
What a fantastic addition to nonfiction for kids!
Thank you to Little, Brown Books for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
What a fantastic addition to nonfiction for kids!
Thank you to Little, Brown Books for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
April 18, 2020
Aisholpan Nurgaiv's triumph as the first female winner of the Mongolian eagle hunting competition in 2014 is shared with the world in an award winning movie called Eagle Huntress in 2016. Now she gets to tell her own story in her own words in this book! Aisholpan speaks in a simple yet powerful way, She starts with the day before she was born and ends with her meeting the 7 girls she inspired to compete in the eagle hunting competition in 2017. She describes how she became interested in learning the male sport of Eagle Hunting and how she learned how to care and train an eagle. She also shares her feelings and impressions from the experiences recorded in the film and the new experiences she has as a nomadic tribes person at modern film festivals. Aimed at 3rd - 7th grade, but would also be a compelling family read aloud and will appeal to naturalists of all ages. Compelling, especially when she describes her traditional life.
This book is going to be published in May of 2020; I received an arc through my workplace, a library.
This book is going to be published in May of 2020; I received an arc through my workplace, a library.
March 1, 2021
This is a stunning book about a fascinating culture and an incredible young woman. I’ve seen the documentary multiple times and was thrilled when the book came out. I can’t wait to introduce Aisholpan and White Feathers to the students at school.
April 18, 2022
I saw the documentary and was amazed by it, and then I was super glad to see Aisholpan got to write her side of the story to provide some more background, verify the truth of the documentary, and explain what she’s been up to since.
It’s a short, easy read with some pictures and a map and Kazakh vocabulary.
Aisholpan is an ethnically Kazakh Mongolian girl born in 2001 whose semi-nomadic family have been eagle hunters for generations. It’s traditionally a male domain but Aisholpan has a super supportive dad and a way with eagles and was also a talented horseback rider and wrestler when she wasn’t being a normal preteen girl.
As of a March 2022 The Eagle Huntress was streaming on Amazon for $2.99 and it may be free through your local library. Feel all the feels!
It’s a short, easy read with some pictures and a map and Kazakh vocabulary.
Aisholpan is an ethnically Kazakh Mongolian girl born in 2001 whose semi-nomadic family have been eagle hunters for generations. It’s traditionally a male domain but Aisholpan has a super supportive dad and a way with eagles and was also a talented horseback rider and wrestler when she wasn’t being a normal preteen girl.
As of a March 2022 The Eagle Huntress was streaming on Amazon for $2.99 and it may be free through your local library. Feel all the feels!
February 7, 2024
This book is such an inspiration! I really enjoyed reading about Aisholpan, and following along as she trained and raised her young Golden Eagle. Then Aisholpan did what no other girl in Mongolia had done, she entered the Golden Eagle Festival with her young eagle. Also the book gave me a clear view of the Kazakh tradition of eagle hunting. I highly recommend this book!
October 21, 2020
The subject of the award-winning documentary The Eagle Huntress tells the true story of how she became the first girl to compete in — and win — one of Mongolia's most prestigious competitions.
December 10, 2024
“The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations” is a nonfiction book focusing on Aisholpan Nurgaiv, a Mongolian girl who made history by being the youngest and first female to compete and win the highly competitive Golden Eagle Festival in Ōlgii, Mongolia in 2014.
The book consists of a prologue, fourteen chapters, acknowledgments, further reading, and a Kazakh glossary.
Prior to the prologue is a map of Mongolia highlighting various cities, locations mentioned in the story as well as drawings of Aisholpan and her eagle White Feathers.
In the prologue, Nurgaiv describes her second time being in the United States and how unfamiliar the weather was compared to her home in Batman-Ōlgii. Nurgaiv shares having visited the United States for the first time to view the documentary at Sundance film festival in January and has returned a second time to Los Angeles, California to view a documentary made about her, her family, and their love of eagle hunting. Although she has become famous, Nurgaiv views herself as a normal girl who likes to ride her pony and finds it strange to have people excited to see a film about her. While watching the film, Nurgaiv is sad at seeing her recently deceased grandfather on film but hopeful of inspiring other Kazak girls. The prologue ends with Nurgaiv explaining the culture of her people the Kazakhs, who have been eagle hunting as a male rite of passage for seven generations.
Through the course of fourteen chapters, the reader learns about the history of Nurgaiv’s family as Kazaj nomads, how her parents met, how her parents wanted a large family but instead had four children (brother Samrakhan, Aisholpan, sister Saigulikh, and brother Dinka) and live a seminomadic lifestyle of living in moveable houses or ger and leading their animals to better pastures tribe during warmer months then moving to a permanent wood and plaster home during the winter months.
As I read this book, I was surprised by all of the information I learned about Mongolia such as how Communist rule by the Soviet Union led to eagle hunting was be banned in Mongolia from 1924-1989, outlawing of the Buddhist religion, and nomads no longer owning their herds. Since the Kazakh’s are nomadic people, they lived for centuries without a homeland and are scattered between China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. In addition, if a nomad refused to register with the government and perform an assigned government job were imprisoned or killed.
During the Communist regime in Mongolia, Nurgaiv’s grandfather worked for the Soviet government shooting animals for their pelts. Although there was a constant risk of him being thrown in jail, Nurgaiv’s grandfather secretly taught her father and her uncles how to eagle hunt as a way to maintain the family legacy.
Nurgaiv shares stories of her childhood riding her pony as well as years of starvation and talks about Dzud which is a winter storm that plunged the temperature to negative sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Nurgaiv tells of attending boarding school with other nomad children with her sister Saigulikh during the week and using one washroom for more than two dozen girls then coming home on the weekend to their gers and helping her parents with their animals. Once the school year ends, Nurgaiv and her family return to their spring pasture and Nurgaiv shares happiness of reuniting with her family members before a three-day trek to their summer pasture.
When Nurgaiv is twelve and after years of accompanying her father on eagle hunts and caring for Samrakhan’s eagle while he serves in the army for a year, she asks her father to teach her how to become an eagle huntress. Although Nurgaiv’s father is open to teaching her, she is surprised when her mother expresses concern for her due to going out on long hunts in the mountains as well as high snow and cold weather conditions. Eventually, Nurgaiv’s mother allows her to begin training to be an eagle huntress with the promise that she will be extra careful.
Nurgaiv writes of her first experience starting her eagle huntress training at thirteen by acting as a scarer (someone who scares the foxes out of their dens) when accompanying her father on an eagle hunting for a group of Canadian tourists. After seeing the eagle capture and kill a fox, Nurgaiv’s father performs the cultural tradition of praying over the dead fox before allowing the tourists to take photos of the kill. As more international tourists visit Nurgaiv’s family, their visits help feed the family during lean times and also a tourist doctor helps her grandmother regain her vision from cataracts as well as gives her an opportunity to learn about different cultures and geography from the various tourists.
In fall 2012, Nurgaiv’s family is visited by Asher Svidensky, a photographer from Israel who came to attend the annual Golden Eagle Festival and is interested in girl or woman eagle hunters. As Asher meets Nurgaiv and her father, he agrees to let Nurgaiv be photographed by Asher to show the next generation of eagle hunters being trained. After Asher leaves, Nurgaiv is anxious to get her own eagle since she has been training with her father and brother’s eagle.
Just as Nurgaiv’s father tells her that he found an eaglet for her to train, Asher returns in winter with a British filmmaker named Otto Bell who says he wants to make a movie about eagle hunting with a focus on Nurgaiv. As Nurgaiv steals that eaglet from its nest, she explains the process of stealing the eaglet from its nest before it learns how to fly is something her family has done for generations when they do it, they leave something of value in its place as a way to give thanks and acknowledge how precious the eaglet is.
After retrieving the eaglet in the summer and naming her White Feathers, Nurgaiv decides to enter the Golden Eagle Festival in October 2014, much to her father’s surprise. Nurgaiv shares lessons learned from her father’s eagle training including being gentle and the importance of a unique hunting call to the eagle can it recognize its hunter among a crowd of other hunters.
A month before the Golden Eagle Festival, Nurgaiv’s father decides it’s time for her to and White Feathers to have their first fox hunt. Being that her grandfather was one of the greatest eagle hunters, Nurgaiv feels that his blessing to pursue eagle hunting is essential. After her father explains Nurgaiv’s strong desire to follow in the family tradition of eagle hunting, she receives her grandfather’s blessing. When Nurgaiv tells her best friend Aimaral that she is competing in the Golden Festival at the end of the month, she is happy to receive support from her boarding school classmates while her boy classmates tease her and say that girls have no place in the world of eagle hunting.
When Nurgaiv and her father arrive at the Golden Eagle Festival in Ölgii, she enjoys walking pasts the various shops and grocery stores while staying in a house with her uncle. The day of the Golden Eagle Festival arrives and Nurgaiv is excited to be competing with hunters from all over Bqyan-Ölgii. As Nurgaiv looks around, she can quickly distinguish the hunters from the tourists and completely surprises the other competitors since contestants register on the day of the event.
After being laughed at by the other male contestants, Nurgaiv is given a registration number of twenty-fourth of seventy contestants. In the first competition of parading her eagle as well as her outfit and eagle-hunting gear, she scores well. In the next competition, Nurgaiv worries about whether White Feathers will be able to stay focused when timed of how quickly she can land on a fox after Nurgaiv calls her. Following the second competition, Nurgaiv is proud when she gets a perfect score and is irritated when hunters still don’t take her seriously as a competitor. As Nurgaiv competes in the final test of eagle calling, Nurgaiv not only does well but White Feathers lands on Nurgaiv’s arm in a record time of five seconds. Although Nurgaiv knows her scores was good, she is shocked when she is announced as the first-place winner of the 2014 Golden Eagle Festival.
Upon returning home from the festival, rumors are spread that Nurgaiv didn’t win the competition fairly and won because she is a girl, or the win was a publicity stunt. In addition, Nurgaiv is eventually challenged by older hunters that she needs to prove that she is a real eagle huntress by catching a fox in the dead of winter in the Altai Mountains.
Since Otto has been filming Nurgaiv’s eagle huntress journey, he is also interested in filming this hunting rite of passage and so Nurgaiv’s father allows him and his cameraman to return for filming in January for the three day, over ninety-mile journey. After White Feathers fails in capturing a fox, Nurgaiv starts to question if White Feathers winning the Golden Eagle Festival was a fluke, but eventually, White Feathers does kill a fox in the dead of winter which secures Nurgaiv’s status as a bonafide eagle huntress.
Following the winter hunt, Otto tells Nurgaiv and her father that he’ll contact her when his film is done. Upon returning home, Nurgaiv is offered scholarships to several private schools and has her first plane ride as well as first school uniform. Nurgaiv shares her experience of attending private school and how city kids were mean compared to country kids.
As time passes on, Nurgaiv and her family forget about the movie as they mourn the sudden death of her grandfather from a heart attack and she experiences joy when as she enters the Golden Eagle Festival the next year, she sees two other girls competing and attendance levels increase from 600 to more than 1,000.
As I finished this book, I was inspired by how Nurgaiv focus on eagle hunting from a young age and having a storng support system helped her become the eighth-generation eagle hunter in her family as well as the youngest and the first woman to win the Golden Eagles Festival despite opposition from male hunters in the country. In addition, it was extremely interesting to learn about the history of modern-day nomadic tribes, that eagle hunting is only done in the winter months, and that the eagles used by the family to hunt are released back into the wild after seven years of service.
The book consists of a prologue, fourteen chapters, acknowledgments, further reading, and a Kazakh glossary.
Prior to the prologue is a map of Mongolia highlighting various cities, locations mentioned in the story as well as drawings of Aisholpan and her eagle White Feathers.
In the prologue, Nurgaiv describes her second time being in the United States and how unfamiliar the weather was compared to her home in Batman-Ōlgii. Nurgaiv shares having visited the United States for the first time to view the documentary at Sundance film festival in January and has returned a second time to Los Angeles, California to view a documentary made about her, her family, and their love of eagle hunting. Although she has become famous, Nurgaiv views herself as a normal girl who likes to ride her pony and finds it strange to have people excited to see a film about her. While watching the film, Nurgaiv is sad at seeing her recently deceased grandfather on film but hopeful of inspiring other Kazak girls. The prologue ends with Nurgaiv explaining the culture of her people the Kazakhs, who have been eagle hunting as a male rite of passage for seven generations.
Through the course of fourteen chapters, the reader learns about the history of Nurgaiv’s family as Kazaj nomads, how her parents met, how her parents wanted a large family but instead had four children (brother Samrakhan, Aisholpan, sister Saigulikh, and brother Dinka) and live a seminomadic lifestyle of living in moveable houses or ger and leading their animals to better pastures tribe during warmer months then moving to a permanent wood and plaster home during the winter months.
As I read this book, I was surprised by all of the information I learned about Mongolia such as how Communist rule by the Soviet Union led to eagle hunting was be banned in Mongolia from 1924-1989, outlawing of the Buddhist religion, and nomads no longer owning their herds. Since the Kazakh’s are nomadic people, they lived for centuries without a homeland and are scattered between China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. In addition, if a nomad refused to register with the government and perform an assigned government job were imprisoned or killed.
During the Communist regime in Mongolia, Nurgaiv’s grandfather worked for the Soviet government shooting animals for their pelts. Although there was a constant risk of him being thrown in jail, Nurgaiv’s grandfather secretly taught her father and her uncles how to eagle hunt as a way to maintain the family legacy.
Nurgaiv shares stories of her childhood riding her pony as well as years of starvation and talks about Dzud which is a winter storm that plunged the temperature to negative sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Nurgaiv tells of attending boarding school with other nomad children with her sister Saigulikh during the week and using one washroom for more than two dozen girls then coming home on the weekend to their gers and helping her parents with their animals. Once the school year ends, Nurgaiv and her family return to their spring pasture and Nurgaiv shares happiness of reuniting with her family members before a three-day trek to their summer pasture.
When Nurgaiv is twelve and after years of accompanying her father on eagle hunts and caring for Samrakhan’s eagle while he serves in the army for a year, she asks her father to teach her how to become an eagle huntress. Although Nurgaiv’s father is open to teaching her, she is surprised when her mother expresses concern for her due to going out on long hunts in the mountains as well as high snow and cold weather conditions. Eventually, Nurgaiv’s mother allows her to begin training to be an eagle huntress with the promise that she will be extra careful.
Nurgaiv writes of her first experience starting her eagle huntress training at thirteen by acting as a scarer (someone who scares the foxes out of their dens) when accompanying her father on an eagle hunting for a group of Canadian tourists. After seeing the eagle capture and kill a fox, Nurgaiv’s father performs the cultural tradition of praying over the dead fox before allowing the tourists to take photos of the kill. As more international tourists visit Nurgaiv’s family, their visits help feed the family during lean times and also a tourist doctor helps her grandmother regain her vision from cataracts as well as gives her an opportunity to learn about different cultures and geography from the various tourists.
In fall 2012, Nurgaiv’s family is visited by Asher Svidensky, a photographer from Israel who came to attend the annual Golden Eagle Festival and is interested in girl or woman eagle hunters. As Asher meets Nurgaiv and her father, he agrees to let Nurgaiv be photographed by Asher to show the next generation of eagle hunters being trained. After Asher leaves, Nurgaiv is anxious to get her own eagle since she has been training with her father and brother’s eagle.
Just as Nurgaiv’s father tells her that he found an eaglet for her to train, Asher returns in winter with a British filmmaker named Otto Bell who says he wants to make a movie about eagle hunting with a focus on Nurgaiv. As Nurgaiv steals that eaglet from its nest, she explains the process of stealing the eaglet from its nest before it learns how to fly is something her family has done for generations when they do it, they leave something of value in its place as a way to give thanks and acknowledge how precious the eaglet is.
After retrieving the eaglet in the summer and naming her White Feathers, Nurgaiv decides to enter the Golden Eagle Festival in October 2014, much to her father’s surprise. Nurgaiv shares lessons learned from her father’s eagle training including being gentle and the importance of a unique hunting call to the eagle can it recognize its hunter among a crowd of other hunters.
A month before the Golden Eagle Festival, Nurgaiv’s father decides it’s time for her to and White Feathers to have their first fox hunt. Being that her grandfather was one of the greatest eagle hunters, Nurgaiv feels that his blessing to pursue eagle hunting is essential. After her father explains Nurgaiv’s strong desire to follow in the family tradition of eagle hunting, she receives her grandfather’s blessing. When Nurgaiv tells her best friend Aimaral that she is competing in the Golden Festival at the end of the month, she is happy to receive support from her boarding school classmates while her boy classmates tease her and say that girls have no place in the world of eagle hunting.
When Nurgaiv and her father arrive at the Golden Eagle Festival in Ölgii, she enjoys walking pasts the various shops and grocery stores while staying in a house with her uncle. The day of the Golden Eagle Festival arrives and Nurgaiv is excited to be competing with hunters from all over Bqyan-Ölgii. As Nurgaiv looks around, she can quickly distinguish the hunters from the tourists and completely surprises the other competitors since contestants register on the day of the event.
After being laughed at by the other male contestants, Nurgaiv is given a registration number of twenty-fourth of seventy contestants. In the first competition of parading her eagle as well as her outfit and eagle-hunting gear, she scores well. In the next competition, Nurgaiv worries about whether White Feathers will be able to stay focused when timed of how quickly she can land on a fox after Nurgaiv calls her. Following the second competition, Nurgaiv is proud when she gets a perfect score and is irritated when hunters still don’t take her seriously as a competitor. As Nurgaiv competes in the final test of eagle calling, Nurgaiv not only does well but White Feathers lands on Nurgaiv’s arm in a record time of five seconds. Although Nurgaiv knows her scores was good, she is shocked when she is announced as the first-place winner of the 2014 Golden Eagle Festival.
Upon returning home from the festival, rumors are spread that Nurgaiv didn’t win the competition fairly and won because she is a girl, or the win was a publicity stunt. In addition, Nurgaiv is eventually challenged by older hunters that she needs to prove that she is a real eagle huntress by catching a fox in the dead of winter in the Altai Mountains.
Since Otto has been filming Nurgaiv’s eagle huntress journey, he is also interested in filming this hunting rite of passage and so Nurgaiv’s father allows him and his cameraman to return for filming in January for the three day, over ninety-mile journey. After White Feathers fails in capturing a fox, Nurgaiv starts to question if White Feathers winning the Golden Eagle Festival was a fluke, but eventually, White Feathers does kill a fox in the dead of winter which secures Nurgaiv’s status as a bonafide eagle huntress.
Following the winter hunt, Otto tells Nurgaiv and her father that he’ll contact her when his film is done. Upon returning home, Nurgaiv is offered scholarships to several private schools and has her first plane ride as well as first school uniform. Nurgaiv shares her experience of attending private school and how city kids were mean compared to country kids.
As time passes on, Nurgaiv and her family forget about the movie as they mourn the sudden death of her grandfather from a heart attack and she experiences joy when as she enters the Golden Eagle Festival the next year, she sees two other girls competing and attendance levels increase from 600 to more than 1,000.
As I finished this book, I was inspired by how Nurgaiv focus on eagle hunting from a young age and having a storng support system helped her become the eighth-generation eagle hunter in her family as well as the youngest and the first woman to win the Golden Eagles Festival despite opposition from male hunters in the country. In addition, it was extremely interesting to learn about the history of modern-day nomadic tribes, that eagle hunting is only done in the winter months, and that the eagles used by the family to hunt are released back into the wild after seven years of service.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2020
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 ( for example, listen to 14,26-16,46 of https://t.co/zb98Nw9u5I and read Dr. Lauren McGough's PhD thesis Chapter 1 section entitled The Bigger Picture) , and the history of Kazakh and other female eagle hunters (Makpal Abdrazakova and her *full* accomplishments, in particular). 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 the necessary 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.
April 21, 2022
Fascinating to read about a tradition I know nothing about in a part of the world that I know next to nothing about—but I do wish that, instead of a ghostwritten memoir aimed at middle-grade readers, this were a properly researched work of narrative nonfiction that delved deeper into history, culture, and other characters. (And...it's hard to trust the research of this book for a number of reasons, starting with the point where the book says that 'What was six PM in Los Angeles was eleven AM the day after tomorrow in Ölgii' (7). That would be a time difference of 41 hours, and given that the largest time zone difference in the world is, per Google, 26 hours, that seems unlikely. I suspect this could be solved by removing the words 'the day after', but it doesn't speak well of the editorial process.)
I hope that as Nurgaiv gets older there will be more to write about her—and more for her to write herself—because although the book positions her story as a great success (and it is!), it's also not lost on me that that success comes at a price:
I hope that as Nurgaiv gets older there will be more to write about her—and more for her to write herself—because although the book positions her story as a great success (and it is!), it's also not lost on me that that success comes at a price:
July 21, 2020
What an inspiring story! Aisholpan Nurgaiv was a young girl watching her father and brother raise and hunt with golden eagles - a centuries-old tradition in the Kasak (sp?) culture. She had a natural connection to the birds even as a toddler so it wasn't a surprise when, at the age of 10 or 11, she told her father she wanted to be an eagle huntress. This is the fresh, transparent memoir of her journey to become a prize-winning eagle huntress.
I saw the documentary about Aisholpan a few years back so I was excited to listen to this audiobook. It was just as engaging as the documentary and it was fun to read a bit about the events leading to the documentary. Aisholpan also covers how her life has changed since the documentary.
A note for those concerns about the eagles. It is Kasak tradition to release their hunting eagles after a few years. The eagles are still of an age where they can find a mate and raise eaglets.
I saw the documentary about Aisholpan a few years back so I was excited to listen to this audiobook. It was just as engaging as the documentary and it was fun to read a bit about the events leading to the documentary. Aisholpan also covers how her life has changed since the documentary.
A note for those concerns about the eagles. It is Kasak tradition to release their hunting eagles after a few years. The eagles are still of an age where they can find a mate and raise eaglets.
May 26, 2020
I listened to the exceptional audio version of this book and it was a very rich experience which I am sure will stick with me. Even knowing why this author was so famous, tears came to my eyes many times as she described her amazing achievements. This is a beautiful story of a young teen challenging her culture's expectations for girls while still deeply respecting the traditions of her people. This would be a terrific choice to listen to as a family on a road trip.
October 17, 2023
The events of this book are beautiful and the focus on the nomadic Kazakhs is fascinating. It is a middle-grade to young adult book written by Aisholpan about her young years of 12-13 learning to be an eagle hunter.
(An amazing documentary was released in 2016 of the events which were filmed live in 2014. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated and won multiple awards throughout the year, 9 wins and 22 nominations.)
The book itself, written by Aisholpan Nurgaiv and translated by Liz Welch, was not published until 2020, six years later, when Aisholpan was 19 years old, although it does read like a middle-grade book.
Unfortunately, the book smacks of $$$ and a need to defend the authenticity of the documentary. "Magically", her words, not mine, the producer of the documentary, Otto Bell, arrives at their nomadic home the day before the capture of the eaglet, White Feathers. They had never met Bell before, never heard of him before, never spoken to him before "and then, like magic" he appears, with cameras in tow to actually film everything. Eerrrrrh?
The editing in the book is terrible. It's as though the editor thought "Only little kids will be reading this and they won't know the difference"? WHAT? They get multiple dates wrong in the same paragraph - the dates don't even match up.
My advice: SKIP the book. Watch the documentary.
(An amazing documentary was released in 2016 of the events which were filmed live in 2014. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated and won multiple awards throughout the year, 9 wins and 22 nominations.)
The book itself, written by Aisholpan Nurgaiv and translated by Liz Welch, was not published until 2020, six years later, when Aisholpan was 19 years old, although it does read like a middle-grade book.
Unfortunately, the book smacks of $$$ and a need to defend the authenticity of the documentary. "Magically", her words, not mine, the producer of the documentary, Otto Bell, arrives at their nomadic home the day before the capture of the eaglet, White Feathers. They had never met Bell before, never heard of him before, never spoken to him before "and then, like magic" he appears, with cameras in tow to actually film everything. Eerrrrrh?
The editing in the book is terrible. It's as though the editor thought "Only little kids will be reading this and they won't know the difference"? WHAT? They get multiple dates wrong in the same paragraph - the dates don't even match up.
My advice: SKIP the book. Watch the documentary.
March 27, 2025
Three and a half stars. This is the kind of sports book I enjoy! By which I mean it is more about animals and human relationships with them than it is about, oh, I don't know, the things I would traditionally think of as sporty.
Knowing very little about Mongolia, part of the interest of this book, for me, was the very accessible look at what it's like to grow up there. Nurgaiv is twelve years old and her family is nomadic, and so I enjoyed reading about what her life is like and how she and her family live. Admittedly, I'm even more interested in the eagles. There are no golden eagles in New Zealand, and while I saw a bald eagle once when I visited Seattle I've only ever seen golden eagles in pictures or videos. I didn't even know that they lived in Mongolia! Clearly they do, and there's a long tradition of training them as a hunting partner. I would have liked a little more focus on how this is done, and the history of the sport in general - certainly more on the history of women in the sport, as they go back to 700 BCE, according to the book - but then I'm aware that this book is directed mostly at children, so I can understand the strong focus on Nurgaiv instead.
What a fascinating relationship she has with her eagle! I'm adding the film to my to-watch list - it will have to do until I can see a golden eagle in person one day.
Knowing very little about Mongolia, part of the interest of this book, for me, was the very accessible look at what it's like to grow up there. Nurgaiv is twelve years old and her family is nomadic, and so I enjoyed reading about what her life is like and how she and her family live. Admittedly, I'm even more interested in the eagles. There are no golden eagles in New Zealand, and while I saw a bald eagle once when I visited Seattle I've only ever seen golden eagles in pictures or videos. I didn't even know that they lived in Mongolia! Clearly they do, and there's a long tradition of training them as a hunting partner. I would have liked a little more focus on how this is done, and the history of the sport in general - certainly more on the history of women in the sport, as they go back to 700 BCE, according to the book - but then I'm aware that this book is directed mostly at children, so I can understand the strong focus on Nurgaiv instead.
What a fascinating relationship she has with her eagle! I'm adding the film to my to-watch list - it will have to do until I can see a golden eagle in person one day.
September 25, 2020
The Eagle Huntress is a wonderful book about Aisholpan Nurgaiv who won the Golden Eagle Festival in Olgii Mongolia in 2014. While she is not the first eagle huntress ever, she is certainly one worth reading about.
This book is her telling her story of her love of eagles and eagle hunting. You also see the love that she has for her family and her people, the Kazakh nomads. I could imagine the setting and the scenery that she tells us about and the lifestyle that they live, I'm honestly quite jealous. No city compares to the beauty of nature.
This is a great story for all children, girls or boys. They will see that you can do almost anything IF you have a passion for it and are willing to work hard.
This book is her telling her story of her love of eagles and eagle hunting. You also see the love that she has for her family and her people, the Kazakh nomads. I could imagine the setting and the scenery that she tells us about and the lifestyle that they live, I'm honestly quite jealous. No city compares to the beauty of nature.
This is a great story for all children, girls or boys. They will see that you can do almost anything IF you have a passion for it and are willing to work hard.
March 17, 2022
Aisholpan always had a connection to her father's eagle. Ever since she was a girl she'd heard stories of her ancestors' famed skill with eagles and she was proud to continue the nomadic traditions of her people. But she never could have anticipated the consequences of learning this traditionally male sport herself. From her first hunt to competing on a national stage to winning international fame through a documentary depicting her journey Aisholpan takes us behind the scenes to learn about her life and her journey.
I loved learning about Aisholpan's way of life and the changes that came with her unexpected fame. If you enjoy learning about other cultures or stories about human animal connection then this is a great choice for you!
I loved learning about Aisholpan's way of life and the changes that came with her unexpected fame. If you enjoy learning about other cultures or stories about human animal connection then this is a great choice for you!
December 18, 2023
I only made it 23 pages (11%) into this book. Nurgaiv's story needed to be told someone with knowledge of, and sensitivity to, her culture. Instead of a good local meal we get the americanized fast food version. Liz Welch's writing is inauthentic and distant: she's unable to let Nurgaiv's voice shine through the filter of her own US-centric descriptions and interpretations. Her unexciting language deprives her readers of what could have been a fascinating view into what I assume is an intriguing place and way of life.
September 22, 2024
An inspiring, beautifully written memoir that relates the journey of Aisholpan Nurgaiv to become an eagle huntress, a sport dominated by men. Her father's belief in her is moving and the descriptions of her life transport the reader into another culture and world. I almost caught myself cheering aloud for her at her first Golden Eagle Festival. Now I want to watch the documentary!
October 12, 2020
I thought the book was very well crafted out! i Loved all the descriptions of the house they lived in! I found that every word was special in its own way! I also wish I could be friends with her. Eagle huntress was a 5 star book that i would highly recommended!
Indira O (age 10)
Indira O (age 10)
September 1, 2021
Literally could not put this down. What an inspirational story that should be shared in classes to demonstrate what happens when you follow your passion. I am buying several copies for the library. Grades 3-4 and up.
March 11, 2022
It was just okay. The writing style is definitely for children, and for that reason it was pretty bland. It was direct story telling without much flair or personal emphasis.
Still looking forward to seeing the documentary, as I'm sure the visual aspect adds a lot to this tale.
Still looking forward to seeing the documentary, as I'm sure the visual aspect adds a lot to this tale.
November 14, 2020
Compelling and inspiring story that brings Mongolian culture to life and is sure to inspire middle schoolers!
August 3, 2021
This was such a fantastic nonfiction book about eagle hunting in Mongolia - and the first girl in her family to do it! It was easy to read and very interesting - boys and girls alike will enjoy it.
December 23, 2021
3 stars. I love that the window into the nomadic Kazak tradition of Eagle Hunting exists and is shared with the world.
December 31, 2021
Bought this for my niece after a friend recommended it after seeing the documentary on which it was based. Really want to see the film now. A good tween biography.
June 30, 2022
A great quick read biography to get you inspired and motivated. Really well written
November 7, 2022
A true story, told by the teenage girl who experienced it. Her voice rang true and was very genuine. Definitely an interesting story.
March 20, 2024
Very inspiring story. Appreciate that even with the translation and editing, it feels that Aisholpan is narrating her story to the reader directly.
April 1, 2024
Very interesting and easy read! A part of our world I knew nothing about! I found it at the Dollar Tree!
August 25, 2022
I think the book should have been written in conjunction with a person who spoke the same language as Aisholpan and more should have been made of those women who had been an eagle huntresses before Aisholpan.
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