By: Landon Joseph
I recommend the graphic novel Eagle Girl to other students because it’s about shapeshifting.
Shapeshifting is when a human transforms into a creature. They might look or act like the creature. Shapeshifting is important to many first nation cultures.
The story takes place in the plateau region in western Canada and the United States. The two students in the book I read in grade seven, Shay Feather and Kyle Wolf, find out that they can shapeshift. After meeting Kyle, Shay had a dream about an eagle and a wolf who had Kyle’s eyes.
Shay asked why she felt annoyed and felt a zap of electricity when she touched Kyle, the new boy in town. Her mom told her about her family history of shapeshifting into a eagle and about her family feud between the wolf and the eagle.
When Shay and Kyle confronted each other again, and turned into a wolf and an eagle, somebody got hurt. They realized they should stop fighting.
“Whatever happened long ago between our families is no business of ours. This feud needs to stop right here and now….. With us!,” said Shay.
The main conflict was when Shay and Kyle were fighting in the woods.
I loved the book for its storyline about shapeshifting. I also liked it because of the art work and the animals.
The book is by Robert Cutting, under Turtle Island Voices, which is a series of 30 levelled readers designed to foster awareness and understanding of Aboriginal cultures for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students, and was published by Pearson Canada.
The following story has been re-drafted one-on-one with journalism trainer.
Naotkamegwanning News 