BATU AND THE SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN CUP, by Zira Nauryzbai, Lilya Kalaus, translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Amazon Crossing Kids, Aug. 1, 2023, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 8-12)
Three friends set out to find a magical talisman in Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup, by Zira Nauryzbai and Lilya Kalaus.
A warrior’s power lies not in his weapons but in his heart.
Batu is just an ordinary kid in present-day Almaty, worried about bullies, school, and his mom’s new baby…until the day he meets Aspara, the Golden Warrior. Aspara steps straight out of Batu’s notebook cover―and out of Kazakhstan’s past. Aspara has been waiting hundreds of years to be summoned to the human world and to finally get his chance to search for the Golden Cup, a magical talisman sent down from the heavens. When the Golden Cup was lost, Aspara watched as many of his friends and family were killed or disappeared.
Craving adventure and a sense of purpose, Batu sets out with Aspara and his own friends to find the Golden Cup, plunging them into an adventure through a world where myths come alive. But there are others looking for the Cup, and they’ll do anything to make sure the kids fail. Will Batu and his friends make it out alive (and make it home in time for dinner)? —Synopsis provided by
In the 15+ years that I’ve been reviewing books professionally, Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup is the first book to cross my desk set in Kazakhstan. That immediately makes it unique but also lets you know there’s going to be a learning curve.
And this is where some young readers could get lost.
Luckily, the book features a fairly extensive glossary as well as a diagram of the dombrya (a musical instrument with two strings and a long neck), which plays an important role throughout.
Once readers settle in, a lot of the unfamiliar becomes attainable through context, and that’s not so different from other fantasy novels like Aru Shah and the End of Time.
At the center of the story is Batu, a pretty average kid who dreams of being extraordinary. Aspara gives him the opportunity. And as the story progresses, Batu — and his friends — learn that by facing their fears and overcoming obstacles they’re pretty amazing as they are.
What really sets Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup apart, though, is the juxtaposition of contemporary life and the kids’ adventures inside Kazakh myths. This offers readers multiple layers of culture and tradition and also gives them sort of grounding points throughout the novel.
Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup is a strong fantasy/adventure that will appeal to kids who appreciate new and exciting stories from around the world.
About the Creators:
Zira Nauryzbai is a writer and cultural anthropologist. She is the author of multiple books and of more than three hundred articles, all written in Russian. She is also a translator from Kazakh into Russian. She is the coauthor, with Lilya Kalaus, of Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup (and its sequels), which was a bestseller in Kazakhstan. Links to her publications can be found at www.otuken.kz. She is currently based in Astana, Kazakhstan. In her free time, Zira volunteers in the search for petroglyphs, rides horses, and practices shooting from a traditional Turkic bow.
Lilya Kalaus is a philologist, author, literary editor, scriptwriter, radio presenter, visual artist, and creative writing teacher from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her stories and narratives have been published in various magazines and online periodicals in Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Germany, Ukraine, and the US. Lilya is the author of seven books, both for kids (together with Zira Nauryzbai) and for adults. Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup was a bestseller in Kazakhstan and became a series that now includes three books. Lilya is a member of the Writers’ Union of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh PEN Club, and she runs her own publishing company. Learn more at www.kalaus.tilda.ws.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a translator who works from Russian and Uzbek into English. She has translated for attorneys, academics, authors, and activists around the world. Her translated works have been published in the US and UK, and in the Critical Flame, Translation Review, Words Without Borders, the Brooklyn Rail, and more. Shelley is a past president of the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society and a cofounder of the Northwest Literary Translators. She lives in Seattle, where she also plays the French horn and is helping raise two kids and a cat. Learn more at www.fairvega.com.
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