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Reviewed by: Kathy Jaccarino, High School Librarian Title: Warrior Girl Unearthed Author: Angeline Boulley Publisher: Henry Holt and Co
Year: 2023 Good for Grades: 9-12 Genre/Type of Book: Realistic Fiction/Mystery
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: Some minor drug use (gummies for anxiety) Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I recently read Fire Keeper's Daughter by the same author. I would not say this is a sequel, or a series, but it is a companion book, with many of the same characters. I loved Firekeeper's Daughter and was anxious to read another book by this author. If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: How far would you go to right centuries worth of wrongs? Do the ends justify the means?
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Review:
This book is by the same author of Firekeeper's Daughter, which I loved. I thought this was the sequel....I rushed to the library to pick it up. Although, I would consider this more of a companion novel, rather than the sequel. It is the story centered on the "Firekeeper's" twin nieces, who in Firekeeper's Daughter, are very young- 5 years old??? In this novel, 10 years later, they are high school students- and the "Firekeeper" is their adult aunt. So, all the characters are there from the first novel, and the author does allude to the story line of the first book, but this could be a stand-alone novel, resting on its own merits. On one level it is a good mystery about missing indigenous women, but on the other hand, it is also a mystery that tackles issues surrounding U.S. repatriation laws and missing/stolen artifacts from Native Americans, and grave robbing. The main character, Perry Firekeeper Birch, loves her life on Sugar Island. Unlike her twin sister, Pauline, she has no desire to leave this life. She plans for a summer of fishing and hanging out, but this is not to be! While speeding Perry does some major damage to the shared jeep she and her sister got from their aunt. This accident, and resulting expenses, change Perry's summer plans. She is now required to pay her aunt back for the damage by working in a summer internship at the tribal museum. To Perry, this is awful news...stuck inside all summer, working for Cooper Turtle, the quirky and odd curator. However, Perry begins to learn all about the fate of their tribe's history and artifacts...and the Native American Graves Protection and Reparations Act (NAGPRA) and how universities, museums, and collectors work to exploit loopholes and by-pass this act. Learning all about this law, and the loss of Native American culture to these institutions is fascinating. Perry learns a great deal from Cooper Turtle, but through a series of events, she loses his trust, and she is thrown in the middle of a missing persons case, while she struggles with reclaiming stolen artifacts- by any means possible, to attempt to undo some of the injustices done to her people, or working through the broken system, bogged down with red tape?!
Through the novel Perry's growth is carefully developed. She is feisty and real. She comes a long way throughout the novel, and she ultimately makes smart choices. A strong theme of the novel is one of Human Rights and Native American Reparations....and perseverance.
The author includes a list of resources- which I am looking forward to exploring as well as the whole concept of NAGPRA. Because of the extensive immersion into the Native American culture and their human rights, this could easily become part of a US history curriculum. I could see having several historical fiction novels available for students to select from- all related to various issues in history. Like historical literary circles!
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