EAGLE DRUMS
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson's Debut Novel!
Available everywhere SEPTEMBER 2023
A magical realistic middle grade debut about the origin story of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, a Native Alaskan tradition.
As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping―the same mountain where his two older brothers died.
When he reaches the mountaintop, he is immediately confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik. Savik gives the boy a choice: follow me or die like your brothers.
What comes next is a harrowing journey to the home of the eagle gods and unexpected lessons on the natural world, the past that shapes us, and the community that binds us.
Eagle Drums is part cultural folklore, part origin myth about the Messenger’s Feast – which is still celebrated in times of bounty among the Iñupiaq. It’s the story of how Iñupiaq people were given the gift of music, song, dance, community, and everlasting tradition.
BOUNDLESS
Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Indentities
This book will be available June 2023
Nasugraq has a short story about a Inupiaq/African American girl navigating the world of high school Speech competition in Alaska.
TASTING LIGHT
Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions
An amazing collection of science fiction short stories! Nasugraq has a short story exploring what her culture might look like 300 years in the future.
What does the future hold? Ten speculative short stories by leading young-adult authors imagine what the world could be through the lens of technologies emerging today. When the modification industry transforms how humans look, sound, and interact, a nonbinary teen braves the “reinvention room” to accept a gift from the dead. In an accidental city in space, a young apprentice holds neighborhoods together with braided carbon filaments until distraction and inspiration arrive in the wake of a visitor. Entitlement-fueled drug use alters the landscape of white privilege, robots remember the Earth, and corporate “walkers” stroll for unknown subscribers—until one hacks the system. In tales buzzing with possibility, hope, innovation, anger, and tenderness, Tasting Light offers a dazzling challenge to connect with open minds, hearts, and senses in a fast-changing world.
With stories by:
William Alexander
K. Ancrum
Elizabeth Bear
A.R. Capetta
Charlotte Nicole Davis
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
A.S. King
E.C. Myers
Junauda Petrus-Nasah
Wendy Xu
RURAL VOICES
15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America
Now available wherever books are sold! Nasugraq has a short story entitled 'The Cabin' in this wonderful collection of rural authors. The story is about a young Inupiaq woman who encounters a mysterious being in the middle of the arctic wild.
Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America
Edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter. 2020. 336pp. $18.99. HC. Candlewick Press. 9781536212105. Grades 6-12
“[I]gnorance doesn’t have a zip code,” explains Shae Carys in the contributor write-ups at the back of this story collection, a sentiment that perfectly captures the frustration felt by the fictional characters. Every story in this collection tackles life in small-town America and asks the reader to consider the multiplicity of factors that comprise the identities of the characters, whether they are bisexual and Catholic in a in a poverty-stricken region of Texas, a dreamer who aims to become the first Puerto Rican Rodeo Queen in Utah, or a young Black man lacking class privilege and unsure of how to make his dreams a reality. These stories peel off the layers of the characters through short prose pieces, poetry, and graphic novel panels. The stories span a range of tones, from funny, to heart-breaking, to one that readers will not want to experience alone at night. Fifteen award-winning authors contributed to this collection, including David Bowles, David Macinnis Gill, and Ashley Hope Peréz. The writers bring authentic voices to their work in addition to their biographies, shared at the back of the book. This collection will be a high-interest read for middle and high school students. The stories could also be used in the classroom to inspire a journaling assignment so that students can introspect on the layers of their own identity, or as jumping-off points to examine the power and privilege reflected in some works of classic literature. This book is a must-purchase for libraries serving middle and high school readers. Elizabeth Andersen, Librarian, Westbrook High School, Westbrook, Maine
Highly Recommended **Reviews from School Library Connection July 2020**
*Winner of 2 Nautilus Book Awards 2020: Best Mid-grade Fiction, Best overall mid-grade and YA
*YALSA #BFYA2022 Nominee
*A Junior Library Guild selection
*Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR
*Named Country Living Magazine’s February, 2021 Front Porch Book Club Selection
Candlewick Press Teachers guide