The Blue Sky - Hardcover

Tschinag, Galsan

3.68

668 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0889822328 ISBN 13: 9780889822320

Publisher: Oolichan Books, 2006

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In the Altai Mountains of northern Mongolia, the nomadic Tuvan people's ancient way of life is colliding with the pervasive influence of modernity. For the young shepherd boy Dshurukuwaa, the confrontation comes in stages. First his older siblings leave the family yurt to attend a distant boarding school, followed by the death of his beloved grandmother and with it, the connection to the tribe's traditions and deep relationship to the land. But the greatest tragedy strikes when his dog -- "all that was left to me" -- dies after ingesting poison set out by the boy's father to protect the herd from wolves. His despairing questions to the Heavenly Blue Sky are answered only by the silence of the wind.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up–A poet, shaman, and leader of his Tuvan people describes the harshness and beauty of a childhood spent herding sheep in Mongolia's High Altai mountains. The boy endures the loss of his beloved grandmother, much of his flock in a difficult winter, and his dog in a tragic accident. The events described happen around 1950 in a part of the Communist world just beginning to experience political change. The author provides a fascinating window into an indigenous world in which nomads move with their flocks and their yurts up and down the mountains according to the season. As the youngest, the shepherd is kept at home when, in the beginning of the Tuvans' assimilation into Mongolian society, his older brother and sister are sent to boarding school. The loss of his siblings is only the first of the events leading to modernization and to his dramatic rejection of Father Sky, the religion of his people. This beautiful and difficult story has been smoothly translated from the German, Tschinag's only written language. A glossary and lengthy notes from both author and translator are appended. This is a memorable read, especially for teens who enjoyed Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton's Facing the Lion (National Geographic, 2003), Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (Pantheon, 2003), or Said Hyder Akbar and Susan Burton's Come Back to Afghanistan (Bloomsbury, 2005).–Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD
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From Publishers Weekly:

Galsan Tschinag is the German name taken by Irgit Shynykbai-oglu Dshurukuwaa, a Tuvan born in Mongolia in the early 1940s. Tschinag studied in Germany in the early '60s and ended up leading the Tuvan people, dispersed under Communism, back to the High Altai mountain region. This autobiographical novel, the first of a trilogy, mines his Mongolian boyhood as a youngest child with an unusual devotion to his grandmother (who comes to live with his immediate family in their yurt). Galsan has aspirations to increase the family's holdings to 1,000 animals and a yurt with a mirror and a suitcase. As Tuvan customs get disrupted by the Communist government's attempts at societal homogenization, the boy continues to tend sheep without the company of his siblings (sent to boarding school) and turns to Arsylang, his dog, for companionship. The foundations for his natural ambitions disappear piecemeal. Tschinag offers softly outlined characters more in the oral tradition than that of the novel, and fly-on-the-wall depictions of the Tuvans, a generally nonaggressive, nomadic tribe with a knack for maxims and poetic superstitions. Descriptions of the Altai mountains, remarkable sky, and closeness to the flock are slow but rich. The book is filled with small pleasures. (Oct. 26)
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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