Warrior Girl Unearthed: one simple summer reveals many secrets and mysteries

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley is book two in the Firekeeper’s Daughter series. Perry Firekeeper-Birch is getting ready for her Summer of Slack but plans change when she gets into a fender bender. She is now stuck in a summer program with other outcasts and even her smarter twin sister, Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, listen to lectures and plan vigils for missing women in the community. One particular meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl,” an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives. She makes it her mission to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. She begins to research the NAGPRA, a federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. Perry finds herself hitting wall after wall to bring the ancestors home. As she digs deeper, she learns there are more secrets and mysteries than she realized.

I loved Ms. Boulley’s first book, Firekeeper’s Daughter and when I learned she wrote a follow up story, I knew I had to read it. Taking place a few years after Firekeeper’s Daughter, Perry is now 17 and loving life. When she is faced with a summer program with other tribal youth, she can’t imagine any other torture. She soon finds a purpose and nothing is going to stop her. I loved Perry and her passion for righting a horrible wrong. She is fiercely loyal and caring but she doesn’t back down from a fight. The book is filled with heart wrenching reality and gut punching truth as the residents of Sugar Island battle to bring their ancestors home, to protect themselves and build a stronger community. Overall, I loved this book and I hope that Ms Boulley will continue to give us stories from Sugar Island. I highly recommend Warrior Girl Unearthed.

Warrior Girl Unearthed is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook