A review by pomoevareads
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

There is no sophomore slump here!

Fans of Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter will love her newest book, Warrior Girl Unearthed, which features the same characters. While it is not necessary to read Firekeeper’s Daughter first, I would encourage everyone to read it first as it introduces the characters and if you read Warrior Girl Unearthed first, parts of FD will be spoiled.

Warrior Girl Unearthed is narrated from the perspective of Perry, one of Daunis’s (FD) twin nieces/cousins. After crashing the Jeep her aunt had gifted to Perry and Pauline, Perry is told she will be interning at the museum to pay back the repair costs. At first Perry is not keen on working for the quirky Cooper Turtle but he quickly shows himself as a respectful mentor who teaches Perry about the repatriation, or lack thereof, of indigenous remains and artifacts. Along with a group of other interns who come together once a week to share their experiences, Perry becomes the de facto leader of the group who call themselves The Misfit Toys after the island of misfit toys in the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer story. Soon a heist plan is hatched to return remains and items associated with those remains back to the land. 

Boulley has written a great YA story here with several interesting characters and many opportunities for the reader to research the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). 

The author shares in her notes at the end of the book that a tweet someone made about recreating Lara Croft but with an indigenous story planted the seed for Boulley to begin thinking about how she could turn her latest ideas into the next book. 

I love that Warrior Girl Unearthed makes for both great story-telling and also an opportunity for learning and reconciliation and would love to see this book make its way into the hands of middle schoolers and beyond. It would also make a great pairing with educational projects. 

My copy included an additional chapter featuring Pauline’s point of view for a portion of the story. 
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