Teenager Perry Firekeeper-Birch is hoping to slide through summer unnoticed. Her plan is to spend the summer fishing at all the best spots on Sugar Island. The last thing on her mind is a summer internship. Internships are much better suited to her perfectionist twin sister Pauline, but Perry begrudgingly ends up in the Kinomaage Summer Internship Program alongside her twin.
As the cultural center museum intern, Perry is introduced to the concept of repatriation and is horrified at the number of indigenous ancestors on display in museums and private collections. Her internship supervisor Cooper Turtle encourages her to look into the legal world of reclamation and policies regarding the items that were stolen to begin with.
When Perry works with the other interns, she realizes that the stolen artifacts isn’t the only crime being committed on Sugar Island. As more and more posters for missing women are placed around town, Perry realizes that the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis isn’t limited to the dead bones of her ancestors- it’s all around her.
Perry’s search for ancestral remains, missing women, and answers leads her on a path filled with teenage romance, cultural pride, and danger.
The follow up to Firekeeper’s Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed is the second young adult book by Angeline Boulley that follows the Firekeeper family. While the two books are related, each stands on its own and make for a great read. Listening to the audiobook was an immersive reading experience. Correct Anishinaabemowin pronunciations along with the moody atmosphere of the book itself made this a phenomenal reading experience.
Request a print copy here, a digital copy here or the audiobook here.
Happy Reading!
-Melinda
Read it or Weep 