Perry and her love interest share a couple of sweet kisses. Other characters of all ages are doing a lot of "snagging" (having sex), talking about it, and teasing their friends about what they are and aren't doing. Non-sexual nudity occurs when a young mother pumps breast milk and her breasts are bared.
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A past rape of a teen is mentioned. The rapist is later murdered, and there are several people with motive to kill him. A woman threatens to subject a man she suspects of messing with her niece to a vigilante-justice "blanket party" in which a group of women kidnaps a man who sexually abuses girls, wraps him in blankets, and beats him up in remote locations. Indigenous teen girls and women disappear and are sometimes found murdered. Grave robbers take teens captive and force them to take part in criminal deeds. The disrespectful treatment of Indigenous ancestral remains and grave goods, in the name of science, greed, or White supremacism, is felt as an act of ongoing violence by tribal members. Creepy scenes of bones thrown together in bins according to their body part.
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Tobacco is used ceremonially as an offering. Teens and adults drink beer and alcohol, but it's forbidden at tribal gatherings. The impacts of drug use and selling are described -- some important characters from Firekeeper's Daughter went to prison, others lost loved ones to addiction, and vulnerable people became collateral damage. A "good girl" teen self-medicates with "weed candy" to deal with the stress of grades and family.
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Occasional mentions of brand names, plus Internet resources such as Google. A Jeep and a Mustang make cameo appearances. Frequent Star Wars and other pop culture/movie references.
Diverse Representations
a lot
Almost all of the characters are Indigenous, mostly members of the Ojibwe nation. They're diverse, complex, and nuanced. Many have non-Native parents or ancestors, so some tribal members are blond and blue-eyed, and others are Black. Perry and Pauline's grandmother was Black, and their dad faces discrimination and nasty comments from other tribal members. Characters vary in terms of cultural identity, too; some are deeply rooted in their language, customs, and traditions, others not very much, and some want to learn more.
Readers learn right along with Perry as she discovers more about the exploitation of Indigenous artists by art collectors, the history of Indigenous graves being robbed of goods and bones by archeologists and anthropologists, and the limited success of federal legislation to address the problem. An afterword has even more information. Lots of dialogue in Ojibwemowin, some translated, some not. Lots of details about Indigenous cultural traditions and how they're part of daily life. The impact of "per capita" (income from the tribal casino, distributed to enrolled members) on people's lives and options. Also lots of detail about Internet research, Google searches, and how to use them.
Positive Messages
a lot
Shows the importance of friends, family, belonging, and growing from your roots to become who you are. Learn wisdom from elders. Finding who you are, what you're called upon to do, and how to do it are core themes. You make mistakes along the way, and not all your decisions are the right ones, but you do your best to do right by your loved ones and mend things when you've broken them. Negotiating skills are valuable.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Most of the characters are nuanced and complex. Main character Perry is brave, kind-hearted, and determined to right wrongs. She's trying to do the right thing, but she sometimes struggles to consider the means as well as the ends and the impacts of her choices on others. Perry often covers for her twin sister, Pauline, who's gobbling weed gummies and having casual sex to cope with academic and family pressure. Other teen characters reflect different experiences, from a teen mom to an arrogant preppie. Eric, Perry's love interest, is passionate like Perry and is trying to stay out of trouble. Perry and Pauline's parents have a strong, loving relationship with each other, their kids, and their community. Most adult characters are a loving, positive, no-nonsense presence in the teens' lives. Other adults prove to be out to exploit them for crime.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Angeline Boulley's Warrior GirlUnearthed follows many of the same characters from Firekeeper's Daughter, picking up 10 years later. It's told from the perspective of 16-year-old Ojibwe Pearl Mary (Perry) Firekeeper-Birch and is set in the summer of 2014 in Sault Ste. Marie and the nearby reservation. Perry discovers a long, dark history of grave robbing of Indigenous remains and artifacts. She's determined to restore an extensive stolen collection to her tribe, but she's faced with breaking laws to do it. Perry and her love interest share a lot of turmoil and a few sweet kisses. Other characters, both teen and adult couples, have sex, though descriptions aren't graphic. In the past, a teen was raped, and she's viewed with suspicion when the rapist turns up dead. Racial discrimination against Black people -- from violence in the news to tribal members shunning Perry's father, whose mom was Black -- is a major theme. Another is the ongoing disappearance of Indigenous women. One character self-medicates with weed gummies; tobacco is used ceremonially. Friendship, family, courage, and teamwork loom large.
We are senior education majors in Northeast Ohio who read this book for our adolescent literature class. Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on a little-known island, Sugar Island, this book provided great insight and knowledge into the lives of modern-day Ojibwe tribe members and the process of repatriation through the NAGPRA law. While this book does discuss breastfeeding, sexual assault, and grooming, it does so in a productive and educational way. Marijuana gummies and casual hookups are mentioned, but not in explicit detail. Narrated through the voice of a sixteen year-old girl, we feel that this book can be easily read by middle and high schoolers. However, we feel that the content would be more appropriate and easily digested by high schoolers due to a kidnapping scene and allusion to rape. There is frequent mention of casual hookups with no elaboration on repercussions, solidifying why we feel this book would be more suited for high school students.
What's the Story?
WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED, set in 2014, finds 16-year-old Pearl Mary (Perry) Firekeeper-Birch looking forward to spending the summer, and pretty much her life, on Sugar Island fishing with her dad. Perry was one of the twins her Auntie Daunis wanted to protect so much that she took on a meth cartel in Firekeeper's Daughter10 years ago. Now Perry couldn't be more different from twin, Pauline, an academic overachiever and "good girl." Perry's plans and life change when a summer internship brings her up close and personal with the Warrior Girl, the skeleton of a long-dead Indigenous girl that's part of a museum collection. It's the beginning of a long discovery process as she learns about the ancestral remains removed from graves by archeologists over the decades, the theft of their grave goods by collectors, and other wrongs that resonate with her own family's history. Soon, along with her fellow interns, Perry develops a plan to remove a collection of skeletons from a local archive and restore them to the tribe. But there are unexpected consequences that complicate their efforts and could affect so much more than just the artifacts.
This is a deeply moving, thoughtful read with a fierce, kind-hearted 16-year-old narrator. Returning to the world of Firekeeper's Daughter 10 years later, Angeline Boulley's Warrior Girl Unearthed offers plenty of thrills, plot twists, and heart as Perry makes new friends, falls in love, and learns that not all seemingly kind adults can be trusted -- and that ethics can get complicated. Fortunately, she finds wise mentors along the way. "Everything is connected, Little Sister," one counsels. "The past. The future. The beginning and ending. Answers are there even before the question. You're supposed to go back to where you started. And if you step off the path, you better keep your eyes wide open." This satisfying sequel is highly recommended.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about different cultures and their beliefs about death. In Warrior Girl Unearthed, how do characters treat bodies after death? Do they show reverence? What ceremonies happen? How do people's deeply help beliefs about this affect who they are?
Have you ever done something you were sure was the right thing to do, only for it to have consequences you hadn't anticipated -- maybe for your loved ones? What happened, and how did you deal with it?
Does your family or community have cultural traditions you'd like to help carry on? What are they, and what would you like to do?
Talk about how characters showed courage and worked as a team to reach their goals.
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Mary Eisenhart
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