Title: Warrior Girl Unearthed
Author: Angeline Boulley
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s
Publication date: May 5, 2023
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Summary
Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always felt comfortable in her identity. She knows she is the more laidback twin, and probably the best fisher on Sugar Island. Now, she’s ready for her Summer of Slack. However, after a fender bender takes her jeep out of commission, she now has to work to pay back her Auntie Daunis for the repairs.
So, she’s interning at the museum for the summer. That’s where she meets Team Misfit Toys, the other outcasts of the intern program. With them, maybe the summer won’t be so bad after all. However, when Perry goes to a meeting and learns about “Warrior Girl,” an ancestor whose bones are stored in the museum archive, she becomes determined to return her to her tribe.
Review: Warrior girl Unearthed
Thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for an advaced copy of Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley to review! Of course, Firekeeper’s Daughter was such a success last year, I was curious to see Boulley’s follow up. This is a companion novel of sorts, though I think you can read it without reading Firekeeper’s Daughter. You’ll just miss some background information from the first book.
First of all, this book is packed full of information about Native American artifacts being in museums, the laws behind them, etc. There’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and a lot of it I didn’t know. However, I do think it makes the plot drag a bit, and I’m not sure how much it will attract teens overall to this story. Though if slow burn mysteries are your thing, this might just hit the spot.
I found myself not as drawn into this story as I was for Firekeeper’s Daughter, and part of me wonders if that’s because I listened to that one instead. But I wasn’t invested in the characters or in the story. The story didn’t seem to flow as well, and it felt like overall, the book was slightly too long.
However, I’m loving that more Native authors are getting published and that these kinds of stories exist in the world. Especially when they show a perspective that not a lot of people know about. Always appreciate learning new things when I read, honestly!
Overall, I’m not sure this will get the hype that Firekeeper’s Daughter did, but still a good sophomore novel either way.
3.5/5 stars