“The Kinomaage program has one internship slot still open. You start tomorrow at nine a.m. Every paycheck will be turned over to me until your debt is paid in full. You don’t drive it until then. Show up at the tribal museum. Your supervisor is Cooper Turtle.”

Pauline gasps loudly, but I feel the sharp intake in my own lungs. And with that, my Summer of Slack goes up in smoke. Just because.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Oooh. Y’all. It’s that time again – time for me to freak out about Angeline Boulley’s books.

HERE WE GO.

I got to read it early thanks to NetGalley and I’m so grateful – nmiigwechinendam zaam ngiigindaas! This is another visit to Sugar Island and the Firekeeper family. This time, we follow Perry Firekeeper-Birch through her story as she spends the summer learning about repatriation and reconciliation while a new danger threatens her community. I’m thrilled to be able to share my thoughts on this book – let’s dive in below.

The Good Stuff

This may or may not have been my actual, factual face when I got approved for an ARC of this book. Oh my goodness, I have been ranting and raving to anyone who will listen about Firekeeper’s Daughter, and now we get another visit to Sugar Island?? It’s already a great year.

As I mentioned above, this new story follows Perry Firekeeper-Birch. You might remember her as one of Daunis’ twin nieces from the first book. We get to see her here as a nearly-graduated teen along with her sister Pauline. It’s a jump, but it’s a lot of fun to see how they’ve grown into their personalities while we’ve been away. We meet Perry as a champion fisher and Pauline as a brilliant student ready to conquer college and preparing to do so with an internship with the tribal government. When Perry gets into an accident in their shared Jeep, Auntie Daunis forces Perry into an internship alongside Pauline in order to pay off the repairs.

What a wonder. This is another amazing book by Boulley with a tribally-specific story; not only that, but one that tackles another prescient issue facing way too many Indigenous communities today. Perry’s perspective gives us insight into precisely how infuriating the repatriation process can be while showing us how important it is to get it right. Cooper Turtle, Perry’s mentor in the internship program, further highlights this as Boulley guides us through how their mentor-mentee relationship develops over the course of the story. It’s such a wonder and made me yell out loud. Once upon a time I wanted to work in history museums, so this hit home once again. This book once again laser-focuses on one tribal community and the issues and questions a character steeped in it has to face – it’s such a wonder to be able to read something like this.

All of the positivity notwithstanding, there are some trigger warnings to keep in mind when getting ready to read this book. Check between the pigeon GIFs below if you’d like a heads up.

Content warnings include:

• Death
• Murder
• Colonization
• Cultural appropriation
• Car accident
• Violence
• Racism
• Adult/minor relationship (implied/not explicit, but still, take care!)
• Kidnapping
• Rape
• Drug use
• Addiction

In Summary

As if I was going to say anything else: this book is highly recommended! Warrior Girl Unearthed is written by Angeline Boulley (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians). It’s published by Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of Macmillan. You can find a link to the publisher’s site for purchasing here. As always, gichi miigwech for reading!