Kirkus
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The Iñupiaq origin story of the Messenger Feast and a boy who was kidnapped by eagles. Throughout Piŋa’s childhood, he was told haunting stories about the dangers of strangers, an unknown presence in the mountains near his family’s sod house, and his missing older brothers, Atau and Maliġu. His mother’s projection of his brothers’ successes onto him combined with his father’s silence, both expressions of their grieving, leave Piŋa wondering, “How can you compete with someone’s memories, anyway?” One day, Savik, who shape-shifts between man and golden eagle, offers Piŋa a choice: death or captivity. Piŋa reflects on the pain his death would cause his parents. He decides to go with Savik and try to return someday. The eagles teach Piŋa singing, drumming, and dancing. He also learns how to build a giant sod house and host a huge feast. The lessons aren’t easy, and his ego is challenged: “I learned not to lead with demands. I learned to lead with connections.” Piŋa struggles with fear and distrust instilled by his family, overcomes self-doubt, and becomes both “creator and learner.” This orally transmitted tale, once banned like the feast it describes, offers a deep connection to rich cultural teachings. Iñupiaq author and illustrator Hopson enhances the story with full-page color illustrations that visually connect readers with Piŋa’s journey and emphasize the importance of connections to nature, spiritual beings, and human relatives. A captivating tale filled with enduring lessons about overcoming the fear of others. (author’s note) (Folklore. 8-12) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Piŋa, a young Iñupiat hunter on a journey to the mountains to collect obsidian, meets a magical golden eagle, Savik. Rather than be killed by the shape-shifter (as were his older brothers), Piŋa agrees to accompany Savik to his aerie, where Eagle Mother schools Piŋa with lessons in song, dance, qalgi (sod-house) construction, and community. Eventually Piŋa returns to his family, where he is tasked with sharing what he has learned and preparing a celebratory meal (called the Messenger's Feast) to bring his people together. This folkloric origin myth offers many details about traditional Native Alaskan life, particularly ways to live off the land. Iñupiat Hopson's smoothly written prose is infused with many Native words, and though no glossary is included, context clues make most meanings clear. Full-color illustrations (one per chapter) help readers to visualize the characters and Alaskan tundra setting, and elegant spot drawings grace chapter headings and section breaks. In her debut, Hopson offers a culturally specific survival story that should have much appeal; an author's note clarifies the source for this tale.

Publishers Weekly
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Among the Iñupiaq of the Arctic Circle, “the story of the Messenger Feast was passed down orally from generation to generation for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years,” Hopson writes in this illuminating retelling of the original tale, which follows an Iñupiaq tween who is kidnapped by eagles. All his life, Piŋa has navigated his parents’ grief over his missing older brothers, feeling as if he’s living in their shadow. When he is one day approached by Savik, a man who shape-shifts between golden eagle and human forms, Savik whisks Piŋa away from his mountainous home. With the eagles, Piŋa learns many skills and hard lessons, as well as the details of what would later become the tenements of the Messenger Feast, including the drum, dance, and construction of the qalgi, the ceremonial building. All the while, he yearns to return to his family. In this poignant adventure, the creator employs rhythmic prose that echoes the story’s oral traditions and offers illustrations rendered in rich, textured hues. An author’s note discusses how, like many Iñupiaq songs and dances, the story of the Messenger Feast was banned following the “encroachment of the missionaries into Indigenous territories and communities,” not to be resurrected until Hopson was in college. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)