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Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age
An inspirational work of wisdom, warmth, and generosity from a three-term US poet laureate.
In her best-selling memoir Poet Warrior, renowned poet and activist Joy Harjo led readers through her lifelong process of artistic evolution. In Girl Warrior, she speaks directly to Native girls and women, sharing stories about her own coming of age to bring renewed attention to the pivotal moments of becoming that strike us in adolescence.
Informed by her own experiences and those of her ancestors, Harjo offers invaluable advice for navigating the many challenges of maturation, from facing mental illness to grappling with parents, friendships, love, and loss. Girl Warrior also guides young readers toward art, poetry, and music as powerful tools for developing their own ethical sensibility.
In this book, Harjo lends her unique voice to the complexity and joy of becoming a woman today. As inspiring as it is urgent, Girl Warrior illuminates essential moments of becoming, including forgiveness, failure, falling, rising up, and honoring generations past and future.
In her best-selling memoir Poet Warrior, renowned poet and activist Joy Harjo led readers through her lifelong process of artistic evolution. In Girl Warrior, she speaks directly to Native girls and women, sharing stories about her own coming of age to bring renewed attention to the pivotal moments of becoming that strike us in adolescence.
Informed by her own experiences and those of her ancestors, Harjo offers invaluable advice for navigating the many challenges of maturation, from facing mental illness to grappling with parents, friendships, love, and loss. Girl Warrior also guides young readers toward art, poetry, and music as powerful tools for developing their own ethical sensibility.
In this book, Harjo lends her unique voice to the complexity and joy of becoming a woman today. As inspiring as it is urgent, Girl Warrior illuminates essential moments of becoming, including forgiveness, failure, falling, rising up, and honoring generations past and future.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published October 7, 2025
81 people are currently reading
6535 people want to read
About the author
Joy Harjo
104 books2,025 followersBio Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
October 26, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
Book Description: In this memoir, the first appointed Native American poet laureate of the United States( 2019-2022), Joy Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation( Muscogee (Creek) Nation) and a well-known activist, speaks directly to Native girls and women. Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age is Joy sharing stories about her own coming of age to bring renewed attention to the pivotal moments of becoming, including forgiveness, failure, falling, rising up, and honouring our vast family of beings.
I chose this title not only for my own reading education, but also as an educator, I was interested in whether or not it was a title that would engage my high school students. The short, punchy chapters that were a mixture of prose and text flow nicely. I believe that the themes presented here would be suitable for students who prefer a nonfiction approach to growing up. I hope that young women will gravitate to this title, as it is very poignant and uplifting.
#GirlWarrior #NetGalley
Publication Date 07/10/25
Goodreads Review 19/10/25
Book Description: In this memoir, the first appointed Native American poet laureate of the United States( 2019-2022), Joy Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation( Muscogee (Creek) Nation) and a well-known activist, speaks directly to Native girls and women. Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age is Joy sharing stories about her own coming of age to bring renewed attention to the pivotal moments of becoming, including forgiveness, failure, falling, rising up, and honouring our vast family of beings.
I chose this title not only for my own reading education, but also as an educator, I was interested in whether or not it was a title that would engage my high school students. The short, punchy chapters that were a mixture of prose and text flow nicely. I believe that the themes presented here would be suitable for students who prefer a nonfiction approach to growing up. I hope that young women will gravitate to this title, as it is very poignant and uplifting.
#GirlWarrior #NetGalley
Publication Date 07/10/25
Goodreads Review 19/10/25
January 1, 2026
For readers coming of age and for all readers working to know themselves better, Girl Warrior is a treasure chest of lived advice from Joy Harjo. Her writing is wise and affecting. How can we forgive ourselves, move forward, leave the past behind, and live? Her stories illuminate the "how" in answer to the most difficult human dilemmas. Honestly, whatever Joy Harjo writes, I look forward to reading and pondering. Girl Warrior was an inspiring way to finish my reading in 2025.
November 22, 2025
"I'd rather fail magnificently while trying than not even try at all. every work of art, every fresh idea that nourishes the community is littered with what are called failures.
There would be no story without mistakes. give chase. be curious."
There would be no story without mistakes. give chase. be curious."
December 18, 2025
Absolutely extraordinary! Why isn't everyone reading this book? Go get it RIGHT NOW!!
More thoughts to come...
More thoughts to come...
October 16, 2025
Such a beautiful work! Part memoir, part book of wisdom for women coming of age, Harjo draws on her life experience to offer guidance and inspiration in her beautiful prose.
November 28, 2025
Poetic Grace (Muscogee Nation Reservation, Central-Eastern Oklahoma; healing messages from the life of America’s only Native American Poet Laureate and the only female who served three-terms from 2019 to 2022, and from those who came before her): If you read Girl Warrior out loud to yourself rather than race through it, the lyricism, musicality, and spirituality of Joy Harjo’s words will likely move you even more.
“Dream-think” is one way to describe Harjo’s purposeful, affirmational, contemplative, spirit-dreaming short stories in this little gem of a hybrid memoir (160 pages). Told through fifty-one tales and parables, it comes with a long list of lofty goals to bear witness to, guide, and lift up “Mvskoke” – referring to the Muscogee Creek Nation – girls and women as they navigate coming-of-age “through the dark.” With clarity and compassion, the dedication defines Harjo’s mission:
“Know that we see you. We hear you. You are beauty, strength, and accomplishment even as you struggle to become in a world that often works against your empowerment. You are made of prayers of those before you who love you. We believe in you.”
The power of being noticed and acknowledged with a poet’s sensitivity hits home when the poet is a member of your community and candidly shares her own painful struggles, reaching the depths of despair. Harjo’s words are powerful because she’s been there, dug in, didn’t forget, and found healing, strength, resiliency, enlightenment through numerous paths over her lifetime.
Laid out are “tools” for working through “Historical Trauma,” “Grief,” “Fear,” “Lost,” “Fury,” “Judgment,” “Failure” – titles and themes of some of her stories – rising to “Illumination” and a “Gratitude Prayer.” All fit her umbrella term: “warrior courage.” No surprise her 2021 memoir was called Poet Warrior.
Given the long history of erasure, violence, oppression, marginalization, victimization, impoverishment of Indigenous Americans, Harjo’s target female audience is significantly meaningful.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this book isn’t for you if your roots hail from elsewhere. The universe of readers who’ll see their issues, or those of loved ones and friends, should resonate exponentially. A self-help manifesto without sounding preachy or trite. Harjo isn’t claiming to have all the answers. Instead, she makes her intentions known: grateful for the path she now walks in life, owing much to the wisdom of teachers/mentors who helped her along the way. “Helpers” another story. Striking is how strong her commitment to giving back is and how full of goodness she comes across.
“The Story Field,” the opening tale, sets the stage as Harjo deeply believes we all have stories woven into us. “Woven” the second tale. Her stories are those of her own, her parents, grandparents, long ago ancestors. Woven into them is a profound respect for Nature, all living things, and a spiritual belief system that’s one with her identity. What’s being offered is a grander perspective to reflect on human existence beyond the earthly one.
Notice – “Notice” another story – three other elements of Harjo’s storytelling and voice: how she blends narratives and poems; switches from speaking about herself in the first person and third person to speaking to her intended audience; and moves in and out of cultural, historic, and otherworldly realms. “I walk in and out of many worlds,” she’s said, posted on Facebook and quoted elsewhere, apparently cited in Meditations with Native Elders: The Four Seasons.
You may want to think of what you’re reading as meditations, musings, or nuggets of insight. Harjo’s life-affirming, elegant imagery symbolizes the fragile transformational stage of coming-of-age (early and later in life) as “chrysalis time” – comparing a girl’s or woman’s metamorphosis to a caterpillar’s becoming a Monarch butterfly.
Music is integral to the poet’s life and life’s work. “I was given nourishment of mind and spirit,” she says, “by the music.” An accomplished musician of the saxophone and flute, her music is also soulful.
“Intimate Violence” is “among the most difficult to reckon.” Citing domestic and sexual violence, addiction and other “compulsive behaviors,” an entire book could be devoted to the daunting persistence and underreporting of crimes against Indigenous girls and women (see, for examples, here and here).
That single-minded focus would dramatically change the mood of Girl Warrior. Harjo doesn’t want to dwell in the tragic, nor gloss over the issues, but her purpose in writing this book is to inspire Hope and Encouragement to give Mvskoke girls and women something to hold onto, work with, so they can feel and do better. Embrace their heritage. Be proud of who they are. How do you “Let go of the pain”? Stop feeling “regrets”? “Ask for forgiveness”? “Welcome your spirit back”? All questions she raises and answers by sharing the lessons she’s benefited from.
As a poet warrior, Harjo’s words forcefully address a host of injustices “in our communities, our homes, and our families.” She doesn’t shy away from speaking to the injustices “in our country,” such as climate change and yes, the political sphere. An activist on many fronts, for many souls, including the soul of our nation.
When her “spirit goes hungry” she “revels in sunrise and sunset.” Listens to the wind, animals, and insects singing since “they all know the language of ancestors. It is music.”
Harjo also seeks to “gird” herself in the arts, literature, and scholarship to energize her emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being.
What a gift.
“Dream-think” is one way to describe Harjo’s purposeful, affirmational, contemplative, spirit-dreaming short stories in this little gem of a hybrid memoir (160 pages). Told through fifty-one tales and parables, it comes with a long list of lofty goals to bear witness to, guide, and lift up “Mvskoke” – referring to the Muscogee Creek Nation – girls and women as they navigate coming-of-age “through the dark.” With clarity and compassion, the dedication defines Harjo’s mission:
“Know that we see you. We hear you. You are beauty, strength, and accomplishment even as you struggle to become in a world that often works against your empowerment. You are made of prayers of those before you who love you. We believe in you.”
The power of being noticed and acknowledged with a poet’s sensitivity hits home when the poet is a member of your community and candidly shares her own painful struggles, reaching the depths of despair. Harjo’s words are powerful because she’s been there, dug in, didn’t forget, and found healing, strength, resiliency, enlightenment through numerous paths over her lifetime.
Laid out are “tools” for working through “Historical Trauma,” “Grief,” “Fear,” “Lost,” “Fury,” “Judgment,” “Failure” – titles and themes of some of her stories – rising to “Illumination” and a “Gratitude Prayer.” All fit her umbrella term: “warrior courage.” No surprise her 2021 memoir was called Poet Warrior.
Given the long history of erasure, violence, oppression, marginalization, victimization, impoverishment of Indigenous Americans, Harjo’s target female audience is significantly meaningful.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this book isn’t for you if your roots hail from elsewhere. The universe of readers who’ll see their issues, or those of loved ones and friends, should resonate exponentially. A self-help manifesto without sounding preachy or trite. Harjo isn’t claiming to have all the answers. Instead, she makes her intentions known: grateful for the path she now walks in life, owing much to the wisdom of teachers/mentors who helped her along the way. “Helpers” another story. Striking is how strong her commitment to giving back is and how full of goodness she comes across.
“The Story Field,” the opening tale, sets the stage as Harjo deeply believes we all have stories woven into us. “Woven” the second tale. Her stories are those of her own, her parents, grandparents, long ago ancestors. Woven into them is a profound respect for Nature, all living things, and a spiritual belief system that’s one with her identity. What’s being offered is a grander perspective to reflect on human existence beyond the earthly one.
Notice – “Notice” another story – three other elements of Harjo’s storytelling and voice: how she blends narratives and poems; switches from speaking about herself in the first person and third person to speaking to her intended audience; and moves in and out of cultural, historic, and otherworldly realms. “I walk in and out of many worlds,” she’s said, posted on Facebook and quoted elsewhere, apparently cited in Meditations with Native Elders: The Four Seasons.
You may want to think of what you’re reading as meditations, musings, or nuggets of insight. Harjo’s life-affirming, elegant imagery symbolizes the fragile transformational stage of coming-of-age (early and later in life) as “chrysalis time” – comparing a girl’s or woman’s metamorphosis to a caterpillar’s becoming a Monarch butterfly.
Music is integral to the poet’s life and life’s work. “I was given nourishment of mind and spirit,” she says, “by the music.” An accomplished musician of the saxophone and flute, her music is also soulful.
“Intimate Violence” is “among the most difficult to reckon.” Citing domestic and sexual violence, addiction and other “compulsive behaviors,” an entire book could be devoted to the daunting persistence and underreporting of crimes against Indigenous girls and women (see, for examples, here and here).
That single-minded focus would dramatically change the mood of Girl Warrior. Harjo doesn’t want to dwell in the tragic, nor gloss over the issues, but her purpose in writing this book is to inspire Hope and Encouragement to give Mvskoke girls and women something to hold onto, work with, so they can feel and do better. Embrace their heritage. Be proud of who they are. How do you “Let go of the pain”? Stop feeling “regrets”? “Ask for forgiveness”? “Welcome your spirit back”? All questions she raises and answers by sharing the lessons she’s benefited from.
As a poet warrior, Harjo’s words forcefully address a host of injustices “in our communities, our homes, and our families.” She doesn’t shy away from speaking to the injustices “in our country,” such as climate change and yes, the political sphere. An activist on many fronts, for many souls, including the soul of our nation.
When her “spirit goes hungry” she “revels in sunrise and sunset.” Listens to the wind, animals, and insects singing since “they all know the language of ancestors. It is music.”
Harjo also seeks to “gird” herself in the arts, literature, and scholarship to energize her emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being.
What a gift.
June 9, 2025
Joy Harjo weaves an inspiring tale filled with culture, advice, and beautiful imagery. This book is both a memoir and a lyrical guide through adolescents.
December 28, 2025
4.5 ⭐️
November 8, 2025
A joy to read Harjo
This is the inner fury, and a reflection on the challenges of an indigenous American woman who has constantly sought a philosophical and poetical expression to the callousness of European settlers that changed American landscape for the native Americans. She is the daughter of Mvskoke (Creek) Nation located in Oklahoma between Sandia mountains, the Rio Grande River, and in the sunrise and sunset.
Her message is simple; believe in your own strength, have courage, and work on life’s challenges with confidence, embrace the warrior power, the divine feminine energy that fuels creation, transformation, and destruction of obstructive forces, and constructing the bridges for inner peace. Her metaphysical thoughts are similar to the primordial Adi Shakti of Hinduism whose influence is woven throughout spiritual practices, rituals, and narratives, reflecting a deep tradition of Shaktism. This parallel of indigenous American religion and Shaktism of Hindu traditions is conspicuous in Harjo’s work. I am fascinated by one of her poems, THE LAST SONG, part of which reads as follows:
“It is the only way
I know how to breathe
An ancient chant
that my mother knew came out of a history woven from wet tall grass in her womb
and I know no other way
than to surround my voice
with the summer songs of crickets in this moist south night air.”
(From: Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years)
The “warrior” here is Indigenous people’s survival. There are fifty-one essays (chapters) in this book of 162 pages, and it is fascinating to read the eloquence of Joy Harjo, it is mirrored in each and every essay. For example, in the essay, Orientation, she describes the Mvskoke belief system about sun, the planet earth, and the environment. The consequences of creating environmental challenges result in climate change, shifting shorelines, and lands disappearing. When people lose indigenous lands, they will also lose their culture. In the essay, Transform, she claims that she writes poetry to illuminate the world and making a path of beauty through uncertainty and chaos. The need for justice compels her to write and create. In one of the earlier poems, she transformed hatred into love. In the essay, Judgment, she meets a group of homeless indigenous men on the street. One of them was her classmate who got into hard times due to addictive alcohol and controlled substances. After a brief conversation about younger days, she gave them money even though she knew that it would be used for their “medications.” She mulled over the encounter, and thought these men were street warriors. They were learning to understand what it means to lose.
This is the inner fury, and a reflection on the challenges of an indigenous American woman who has constantly sought a philosophical and poetical expression to the callousness of European settlers that changed American landscape for the native Americans. She is the daughter of Mvskoke (Creek) Nation located in Oklahoma between Sandia mountains, the Rio Grande River, and in the sunrise and sunset.
Her message is simple; believe in your own strength, have courage, and work on life’s challenges with confidence, embrace the warrior power, the divine feminine energy that fuels creation, transformation, and destruction of obstructive forces, and constructing the bridges for inner peace. Her metaphysical thoughts are similar to the primordial Adi Shakti of Hinduism whose influence is woven throughout spiritual practices, rituals, and narratives, reflecting a deep tradition of Shaktism. This parallel of indigenous American religion and Shaktism of Hindu traditions is conspicuous in Harjo’s work. I am fascinated by one of her poems, THE LAST SONG, part of which reads as follows:
“It is the only way
I know how to breathe
An ancient chant
that my mother knew came out of a history woven from wet tall grass in her womb
and I know no other way
than to surround my voice
with the summer songs of crickets in this moist south night air.”
(From: Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years)
The “warrior” here is Indigenous people’s survival. There are fifty-one essays (chapters) in this book of 162 pages, and it is fascinating to read the eloquence of Joy Harjo, it is mirrored in each and every essay. For example, in the essay, Orientation, she describes the Mvskoke belief system about sun, the planet earth, and the environment. The consequences of creating environmental challenges result in climate change, shifting shorelines, and lands disappearing. When people lose indigenous lands, they will also lose their culture. In the essay, Transform, she claims that she writes poetry to illuminate the world and making a path of beauty through uncertainty and chaos. The need for justice compels her to write and create. In one of the earlier poems, she transformed hatred into love. In the essay, Judgment, she meets a group of homeless indigenous men on the street. One of them was her classmate who got into hard times due to addictive alcohol and controlled substances. After a brief conversation about younger days, she gave them money even though she knew that it would be used for their “medications.” She mulled over the encounter, and thought these men were street warriors. They were learning to understand what it means to lose.
December 5, 2025
For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet
Joy Harjo
1951 –
Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.
If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back.
Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire.
Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time.
Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters.
Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who accompany you.
Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them.
Don’t worry.
The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves.
The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a hundred, a thousand or even more.
Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time.
Do not hold regrets.
When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed.
You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant.
Cut the ties you have to failure and shame.
Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction.
Ask for forgiveness.
Call upon the help of those who love you. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor.
Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.
You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.
Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long.
Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes.
Now you can have a party. Invite everyone you know who loves and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go.
Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short.
Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark.
Joy Harjo
1951 –
Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.
If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back.
Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire.
Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time.
Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters.
Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who accompany you.
Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them.
Don’t worry.
The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves.
The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a hundred, a thousand or even more.
Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time.
Do not hold regrets.
When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed.
You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant.
Cut the ties you have to failure and shame.
Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction.
Ask for forgiveness.
Call upon the help of those who love you. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor.
Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.
You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.
Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long.
Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes.
Now you can have a party. Invite everyone you know who loves and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go.
Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short.
Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark.
October 24, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This book was published in the US by W.W. Norton on September 30th, 2025.
Reading Girl Warrior feels like being guided through a long, tender remembering. Joy Harjo writes with a lyrical wisdom that blurs the boundary between poetry and prayer, each sentence rooted in the earth yet reaching toward the spirit. This is not a conventional coming-of-age story but a return—to ancestry, to land, to the quiet knowing that survival itself is sacred. Through stories drawn from her life as an Indigenous woman, Harjo extends an invitation to pause, to listen, and to remember the threads that bind us to one another and to the living world.
Harjo’s reflections are grounded in truth and tenderness. She writes of the weight of historical trauma, of growing up amid poverty and racism, and of the immense effort required to reclaim one’s self in a country that profits from its erasure. Yet her words never collapse into despair. Instead, she teaches that healing comes through asking for help, through rest, through creation. Art becomes sustenance here—food for the spirit—and community becomes a site of renewal rather than perfection.
What lingers most are Harjo’s meditations on interconnectedness. She reminds readers that “power is something to be shared, not kept for oneself,” a sentiment that feels both radical and deeply human in an era of isolation and greed. Her relationship to the natural world pulses through every page: the cleansing power of water, the steady patience of the earth, the songs that carry ancestral memory. In Harjo’s cosmology, every story is a beginning, every act of care a form of resistance.
Girl Warrior is both a mirror and a map. It teaches that to live with intention is to honor those who came before, to speak one’s truth, and to walk gently in a world that has forgotten how alive it is. Harjo’s words are medicine: quiet, steady, and full of light.
📖 Read this if you love: lyrical storytelling, Indigenous wisdom, writing that feels both ancestral and revolutionary, and reflective meditations on healing and belonging.
🔑 Key Themes: Intergenerational Healing, Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Growth, Storytelling as Survival, Earth Connection and Environmental Justice, Collective Power and Resistance.
Content / Trigger Warnings: Suicide (minor), Self Harm (minor), Domestic Abuse (minor), Suicidal Thoughts (minor), Drug Abuse (minor), Alcoholism (minor), Sexual Assault (minor).
Reading Girl Warrior feels like being guided through a long, tender remembering. Joy Harjo writes with a lyrical wisdom that blurs the boundary between poetry and prayer, each sentence rooted in the earth yet reaching toward the spirit. This is not a conventional coming-of-age story but a return—to ancestry, to land, to the quiet knowing that survival itself is sacred. Through stories drawn from her life as an Indigenous woman, Harjo extends an invitation to pause, to listen, and to remember the threads that bind us to one another and to the living world.
Harjo’s reflections are grounded in truth and tenderness. She writes of the weight of historical trauma, of growing up amid poverty and racism, and of the immense effort required to reclaim one’s self in a country that profits from its erasure. Yet her words never collapse into despair. Instead, she teaches that healing comes through asking for help, through rest, through creation. Art becomes sustenance here—food for the spirit—and community becomes a site of renewal rather than perfection.
What lingers most are Harjo’s meditations on interconnectedness. She reminds readers that “power is something to be shared, not kept for oneself,” a sentiment that feels both radical and deeply human in an era of isolation and greed. Her relationship to the natural world pulses through every page: the cleansing power of water, the steady patience of the earth, the songs that carry ancestral memory. In Harjo’s cosmology, every story is a beginning, every act of care a form of resistance.
Girl Warrior is both a mirror and a map. It teaches that to live with intention is to honor those who came before, to speak one’s truth, and to walk gently in a world that has forgotten how alive it is. Harjo’s words are medicine: quiet, steady, and full of light.
📖 Read this if you love: lyrical storytelling, Indigenous wisdom, writing that feels both ancestral and revolutionary, and reflective meditations on healing and belonging.
🔑 Key Themes: Intergenerational Healing, Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Growth, Storytelling as Survival, Earth Connection and Environmental Justice, Collective Power and Resistance.
Content / Trigger Warnings: Suicide (minor), Self Harm (minor), Domestic Abuse (minor), Suicidal Thoughts (minor), Drug Abuse (minor), Alcoholism (minor), Sexual Assault (minor).
October 4, 2025
This short genre-blending book consists of 51 short chapters offering advice to young women finding their way in the world, at a time she calls as "the dark soul of night" when they're dealing with more than most generations--long, generational trauma; continued damage to our Earth through global warming and resulting climate change; the continued attack on human rights. Each chapter combines Harjo's poetic voice with memoir, poetry, and advice offering a number of valuable life lessons that many will resonate with, leaving the reader with the most important moral: in times of darkness, be the light.
The structure of this book reminds me a lot of Ross Gay's "The Book of Delights" (and further explorations of this same short-form text). I found myself engaged with Harjo's prose, which is unsurprising given my love for her poetry. I enjoyed the chapters that explored a moment of her life and extended it to a theme that provides the reader with a lesson. The moments that were more narrative like this helped me stay in the text, but the chapters that were straight-forward advice or written in direct address to the reader were less compelling. It is a book that is easily consumed in short doses--almost like daily affirmations--which didn't work for this impatient reader.
There are many lessons I, myself, took from this text, and obviously many quotes I captured. I'm excited to read more nonfiction by Harjo, and will likely read "Poet Warrior" later in the next year or so!
The structure of this book reminds me a lot of Ross Gay's "The Book of Delights" (and further explorations of this same short-form text). I found myself engaged with Harjo's prose, which is unsurprising given my love for her poetry. I enjoyed the chapters that explored a moment of her life and extended it to a theme that provides the reader with a lesson. The moments that were more narrative like this helped me stay in the text, but the chapters that were straight-forward advice or written in direct address to the reader were less compelling. It is a book that is easily consumed in short doses--almost like daily affirmations--which didn't work for this impatient reader.
There are many lessons I, myself, took from this text, and obviously many quotes I captured. I'm excited to read more nonfiction by Harjo, and will likely read "Poet Warrior" later in the next year or so!
December 13, 2025
Joy Harjo, one of the wisest people I know, made her first ethical decision at four, obeyed an adult request, she had to share her cookie with another child. Although she balked at first, her consciousness or spirit within prompted her that “sharing would make a trail of kindness between us.”
A few of Joy’s previously published poems are included here in Girl Warrior, On Coming of Age. She warns that we need to “take care of the relationships with the spiritual guardians of the places in which we live,” recognize Earth as a living being and we will flourish. At times the rainbows spoke to her so she would pass on the reminders that we are part of “a living system, a living planet.”
This is a spirit guide book, teaching the readers how to live in harmony spiritually, sometimes overdone, sometimes heard before. Perhaps we shouldn’t allow such teachings to slip into status as clichés in our minds. Her book becomes a ministry project to those who are hurt, wounded. When she embraced all the parts of her story, healing took hold. By passing it on to her readers, sharing what she’s learned, and recommending we accept all we’ve been through, even “the worst parts of the story,” she shows it becomes an important part of the ongoing process of healing.
“Poetry can be prayer.” She reprints her well know Fear poem from She Had Some Horses (1983) as a supplication to be released of fear. “These words … can heal, as can yours.”
A few of Joy’s previously published poems are included here in Girl Warrior, On Coming of Age. She warns that we need to “take care of the relationships with the spiritual guardians of the places in which we live,” recognize Earth as a living being and we will flourish. At times the rainbows spoke to her so she would pass on the reminders that we are part of “a living system, a living planet.”
This is a spirit guide book, teaching the readers how to live in harmony spiritually, sometimes overdone, sometimes heard before. Perhaps we shouldn’t allow such teachings to slip into status as clichés in our minds. Her book becomes a ministry project to those who are hurt, wounded. When she embraced all the parts of her story, healing took hold. By passing it on to her readers, sharing what she’s learned, and recommending we accept all we’ve been through, even “the worst parts of the story,” she shows it becomes an important part of the ongoing process of healing.
“Poetry can be prayer.” She reprints her well know Fear poem from She Had Some Horses (1983) as a supplication to be released of fear. “These words … can heal, as can yours.”
August 12, 2025
So much gratitude to #netgalley and #wwnorton,for the honor and opportunity to read an advance copy of #GIRLWARRIOR: On Coming of Age by the brilliant Poet Laureate of the US #JoyHarjo which is due for publication this Fall. In the spirit of her memoir #PoetWarrior, Joy Harjo has written a collection especially for young indigenous women who are coming of age in a openly crooked and, in my opinion, extra cruel world.
This collection is personal and powerful (and will prove to be a soul-enriching and hopeful read for anyone who needs a lift and some positive messaging). Joy knows the challenges and pain that young women face, especially young indigenous women, and boldly shares her own pain and personal experiences: with relationships, romantic love, family betrayal, and young motherhood. I loved this collection and am so grateful to have spotted it and been granted access. I pray that we can continue to access collections such as Harjo's and other voices that are repeatedly targeted for the purposes of being silenced and tamped down.
On shelves 10/7/2025, this is a MUST for women but really for all who need a voice of hope and light for now and for the future. My deepest gratitude, again, and Joy Harjo is a true treasure.
This collection is personal and powerful (and will prove to be a soul-enriching and hopeful read for anyone who needs a lift and some positive messaging). Joy knows the challenges and pain that young women face, especially young indigenous women, and boldly shares her own pain and personal experiences: with relationships, romantic love, family betrayal, and young motherhood. I loved this collection and am so grateful to have spotted it and been granted access. I pray that we can continue to access collections such as Harjo's and other voices that are repeatedly targeted for the purposes of being silenced and tamped down.
On shelves 10/7/2025, this is a MUST for women but really for all who need a voice of hope and light for now and for the future. My deepest gratitude, again, and Joy Harjo is a true treasure.
August 27, 2025
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this book.
This is a beautiful and thoughtful curation of short essays exploring all aspects of life with a focus on Indigenous coming of age. I found that every word in this collection was intentional and there is a lesson in every sentence. Harjo draws on her life experiences, breaking free of the western concept of time, to share how a young person [or really at any age] might get through a life changing experience.
This is a curation for young Indigenous women/people who are coming of age; these are relevant lessons for everyone to live a more intentional life that in aligned with Mother Earth. It's an invitation to break away from unsustainable lifestyles. I find this is a book that a person can revisit many times in life.
Of course, Joy Harjo's writing is captivating. While everything was straight to the point, the language was not dry, but warm and inviting. The book was relaxing while covering heavy topics, a way to show she is there with her words and stories.
This is a beautiful and thoughtful curation of short essays exploring all aspects of life with a focus on Indigenous coming of age. I found that every word in this collection was intentional and there is a lesson in every sentence. Harjo draws on her life experiences, breaking free of the western concept of time, to share how a young person [or really at any age] might get through a life changing experience.
This is a curation for young Indigenous women/people who are coming of age; these are relevant lessons for everyone to live a more intentional life that in aligned with Mother Earth. It's an invitation to break away from unsustainable lifestyles. I find this is a book that a person can revisit many times in life.
Of course, Joy Harjo's writing is captivating. While everything was straight to the point, the language was not dry, but warm and inviting. The book was relaxing while covering heavy topics, a way to show she is there with her words and stories.
November 17, 2025
My library has this labeled as adult biography, but I think of this brief book more as memoir, suitable for teens and up. I also think of it as a book of wisdom, based on Harjo's Native traditions and culture and life experience. As an elder now, she tells her coming of age story and offers advice to younger generations. She includes several previously published poems or parts of poems that enhance her themes that include voice, helpers, romance, friendship, and fury. The book is full of quotables! From Helpers: "Help always comes but it may not come immediately, and it may not be in the form you might have in mind. Make sure you have an open mind, an empty bowl, your pen or keyboard ready to receive or perceive it." From Feeding Your Spirit: "When your body is hungry it searches for food. When your mind is hungry it searches for art, literature, performance, and knowledge." Harjo shows readers a way through difficult times, anger, and grief. She shows us that we are all part of an eternal story, and that it's up to us to choose the way the story goes.
September 3, 2025
A beautiful, touching and meaningful book, Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age by Joy Harjo is a treasure trove of wisdom. There are such vivid memories, insights and experiences in these pages. Harjo brings in profound, ancient new-to-me ways of thinking and understanding ourselves and the world around us, thoughts and ideas I’ve not encountered before but which I respect and which resonate. I’m lit up, fascinated and enlivened by the liminal spaces her words open up within me.
With short and impactful chapters that cover such topics as Mystery, Voice, Friendship, Fury, Failure, Fear, Dreaming, Grief, Compassion, Passion and Resonance, Harjo weaves an intimate and intricate blend of wisdom, truth and resilience using insights, stories and poems.
Expected Publication Date: October 7, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley, Author Joy Harjo and W. W Norton & Company for access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
With short and impactful chapters that cover such topics as Mystery, Voice, Friendship, Fury, Failure, Fear, Dreaming, Grief, Compassion, Passion and Resonance, Harjo weaves an intimate and intricate blend of wisdom, truth and resilience using insights, stories and poems.
Expected Publication Date: October 7, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley, Author Joy Harjo and W. W Norton & Company for access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
August 14, 2025
I received an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.
This book delivers everything that its synopsis offers to readers. Joy Harjo invites us to her literary front porch, offers a rocking chair, and reveals her golden wisdom nuggets in a fragmented storyline that wisps readers into evolution and epiphany.
Harjo captures readers with her sage simplicity, reaching to a wide audience of girls and women alike. She provides us with glimpses of her past that have been instrumental to her growth as a writer, musician, and individual.
My only criticism is that I craved for an expanse of some stories. While each chapter was digestible, I wanted more details. There were some symbols and motifs that could have been utilized throughout the whole span of the book to bring more closure and consistency. But that wasn't enough to bring my rating down.
This book delivers everything that its synopsis offers to readers. Joy Harjo invites us to her literary front porch, offers a rocking chair, and reveals her golden wisdom nuggets in a fragmented storyline that wisps readers into evolution and epiphany.
Harjo captures readers with her sage simplicity, reaching to a wide audience of girls and women alike. She provides us with glimpses of her past that have been instrumental to her growth as a writer, musician, and individual.
My only criticism is that I craved for an expanse of some stories. While each chapter was digestible, I wanted more details. There were some symbols and motifs that could have been utilized throughout the whole span of the book to bring more closure and consistency. But that wasn't enough to bring my rating down.
November 19, 2025
4/5 stars
"I decided to fall in love with creativity, with the beauty of the earth, with curiosity, with the questions that thread through human story making. I let go of the need to be elsewhere other than myself." - 8: Romance
"When you can no longer fit words to turmoil. When the sky is gray even when there's sun. When time is a sieve fed by nothingness. When there's no forward or backward. When your heart stops making any music you can hear - You might think no one sees or hears, that no one understands. You've turned your back." - 26: Making It Through
"...will we choose compassionate ideas and laws, and leaders who serve and are fit for the job, or will we choose dictatorial pawns who assume authority for self-gain, and wish to oppress and police citizens to enslave them to a false story?" - 49: Dark Night
"I decided to fall in love with creativity, with the beauty of the earth, with curiosity, with the questions that thread through human story making. I let go of the need to be elsewhere other than myself." - 8: Romance
"When you can no longer fit words to turmoil. When the sky is gray even when there's sun. When time is a sieve fed by nothingness. When there's no forward or backward. When your heart stops making any music you can hear - You might think no one sees or hears, that no one understands. You've turned your back." - 26: Making It Through
"...will we choose compassionate ideas and laws, and leaders who serve and are fit for the job, or will we choose dictatorial pawns who assume authority for self-gain, and wish to oppress and police citizens to enslave them to a false story?" - 49: Dark Night
January 8, 2026
I’m clearly not the target audience for this book since I came of age about 50 years ago. I read it out of curiosity about Harjo’s work and thinking I might pass it on to a younger woman. My reaction is mixed. The book is a collection of short essays - some only a few paragraphs long - that draw on the author’s own experience and her particular version of Native spiritualism to offer advice and encouragement to young women dealing with hardships. Sometimes the subject matter is heavy: parental abuse, the death of a loved one. Sometimes the topic is much lighter: overcoming stage fright or learning to (literally) hear rainbows. I found the shifting moods and impressionistic style frustrating at times. But then, particularly in some of the final essays, powerful poetic language breaks through.
February 6, 2026
My library shelves Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age in the adult area but the book is intended for teen and young adult girls. I wish it had been available to me when I was that age. Those who would benefit most from reading this would be more likely to discover it in the young adult area. I am a follower of Joy Harjo so I was eager to read this, her newest. The author has a way of affirming feelings while giving a new way to see things. She shows you how to acknowledge and honor the story of your life. The book is written as though Joy Harjo is in the room with you, talking to you.
“Let this story be a step with which you can lift yourself, to the next part of your story. Take the next step, and then the next.”
P.S. Joy Harjo loves commas and that love turns sentences and paragraphs into poetry as you read.
“Let this story be a step with which you can lift yourself, to the next part of your story. Take the next step, and then the next.”
P.S. Joy Harjo loves commas and that love turns sentences and paragraphs into poetry as you read.
January 2, 2026
Girl Warrior Joy Harjo je kratka, poetska memoarska knjiga koja više nalikuje nizu meditacija nego klasičnom self-helpu. Harjo kroz osobne uspomene, snove i mitologiju piše o odrastanju, traumi, identitetu i ženskoj snazi, ali bez didaktičnih savjeta ili “uradi ovo da bi bila bolja” tona.
Ako nisi fan self-helpa, knjiga će ti vjerojatno biti podnošljiva upravo zato što to i nije: nema motivacijskih fraza ni jasne strukture, nego slobodan, lirski tok koji traži sporije čitanje. Snaga knjige je u jeziku i perspektivi Native voice, dok joj je slabost to što može djelovati razbacano i previše apstraktno ako tražiš konkretnu naraciju.
Kao izbor za izazov native voices ima smisla; kao knjiga koju bi netko svjesno birao za užitak — vjerojatno samo ako već voli poeziju i fragmentarne memoare.
Ako nisi fan self-helpa, knjiga će ti vjerojatno biti podnošljiva upravo zato što to i nije: nema motivacijskih fraza ni jasne strukture, nego slobodan, lirski tok koji traži sporije čitanje. Snaga knjige je u jeziku i perspektivi Native voice, dok joj je slabost to što može djelovati razbacano i previše apstraktno ako tražiš konkretnu naraciju.
Kao izbor za izazov native voices ima smisla; kao knjiga koju bi netko svjesno birao za užitak — vjerojatno samo ako već voli poeziju i fragmentarne memoare.
August 24, 2025
Part wisdom and life lessons, part memoir, the latest book from Joy Harjo presents fresh insights for deep knowing.
✨ Book Review: GIRL WARRIOR: ON COMING OF AGE by Joy Harjo ✨
In this latest book from three-term US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, the beloved Mvskoke poet, writer, and performer shares 51 essays of wisdom and insights from her rich life. Geared toward Native girls and women, these essays offer deep insights as would be shared over a kitchen table from a dear older sister or auntie.
🌵 My Take: The essays are plainly written and easy to understand but do cover a range of topics, including some heavier themes. Overall, I found the essays insightful and full of wisdom that can be applied at any stage of life, not just adolescence. Select chapters could be enjoyed by younger readers, but essays on heavier topics such as substance abuse, assault, and the persistence of missing Native youth and women may be best held for older teens. Something to consider before sharing the book with younger readers.
😘 Thanks to @w.w.norton and NetGalley for the gifted eARC. All opinions are my own.
🌊 Fun Fact! The stunning cover image on this book is a photograph titled Hermosa by artist Cara Romero (@cararomerophotography), an enrolled member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe. Her work is stunning and I highly recommend checking it out.
✨ Book Review: GIRL WARRIOR: ON COMING OF AGE by Joy Harjo ✨
In this latest book from three-term US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, the beloved Mvskoke poet, writer, and performer shares 51 essays of wisdom and insights from her rich life. Geared toward Native girls and women, these essays offer deep insights as would be shared over a kitchen table from a dear older sister or auntie.
🌵 My Take: The essays are plainly written and easy to understand but do cover a range of topics, including some heavier themes. Overall, I found the essays insightful and full of wisdom that can be applied at any stage of life, not just adolescence. Select chapters could be enjoyed by younger readers, but essays on heavier topics such as substance abuse, assault, and the persistence of missing Native youth and women may be best held for older teens. Something to consider before sharing the book with younger readers.
😘 Thanks to @w.w.norton and NetGalley for the gifted eARC. All opinions are my own.
🌊 Fun Fact! The stunning cover image on this book is a photograph titled Hermosa by artist Cara Romero (@cararomerophotography), an enrolled member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe. Her work is stunning and I highly recommend checking it out.
January 14, 2026
“If you are not near water and you are on an emotional edge, you can go to the sink, run the water, dip your hands in the water and cover your head with it seven times,” Harjo writes. “You will feel calmer. Salt water is even better, and you can carry salt with you everywhere.”
This book is like an antidote to angst. Just an absolute treasure, I wish I had it when I was younger. Her words are direct and never pretentious, just crystal clear wisdom that is so healing to read. I read it over like 2 months, kept it on my nightstand and it helped calm my mind before bed. I will return to it in when I’m struggling and share it with others forever.
This book is like an antidote to angst. Just an absolute treasure, I wish I had it when I was younger. Her words are direct and never pretentious, just crystal clear wisdom that is so healing to read. I read it over like 2 months, kept it on my nightstand and it helped calm my mind before bed. I will return to it in when I’m struggling and share it with others forever.
February 4, 2026
Good lord a book has never been more not for me. Had to read and analyze every bit of it for class and hated the whole thing. I'm sorry and my judgement is not passed on the author's religion or beliefs or heritage, but so many things she talks about are just ridiculous to me. Reading people's thoughts? Talking to rainbows? Just nope nope nope nope nope I'm so glad it's over. She does have the occasional good or even inspiring advice and stories, but the ridiculous parts were incredibly distracting to me and she often came off as entitled and unaware of the existence of others' experiences and opinions.
June 18, 2025
Joy Harjo offers us words to share with the young women in our lives who are coming of age in these confusing times, in this reflective book of poetry - Girl Warrior. This is the perfect book for girls around the age of 13 and up. Harjo shares her wisdom, shows us beauty in the process of growing and makes us feel loved and cared for throughout the whole book. Definitely a must-buy for the collection, no matter your age but, again, the perfect gift for any young woman.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2025
I will read anything and everything Harjo writes.
As an indigenous woman myself, her writing settles in my bones. From the rage she feels as an indigenous woman that I mirror to the rage she feels at the loss she's suffered, I feel it all so viscerally. Harjo is a teller of our stories, from all of our ancestors and our sisters and brothers, alive and not. We are lucky to have her words.
What a book. What a journey.
A masterpiece.
Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
As an indigenous woman myself, her writing settles in my bones. From the rage she feels as an indigenous woman that I mirror to the rage she feels at the loss she's suffered, I feel it all so viscerally. Harjo is a teller of our stories, from all of our ancestors and our sisters and brothers, alive and not. We are lucky to have her words.
What a book. What a journey.
A masterpiece.
Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 8, 2026
I could talk about this book for hours (and I have for my English class) I didn’t know what to expect, but it exceeded my expectations. Usually life advice is shoved in your face, but the way she executed sharing her own stories was amazing. She wasn’t pressuring the reader into not making her mistakes, but rather providing insight on how these mistakes affected her life. She was real, honest, and raw and purposefully left the book up to the readers interpretation, as she knew each person would resonate with it differently. Her connection to nature inspired me to look at the little things around me and show gratitude for all of them. When she shared the reality of love, I agreed because I have also lost myself in people when trying to get them to change for the better. It’s like I was with her as she was making these discoveries. She made me feel reassured that my emotions and feelings going on in this part of my life are normal, and are essential in shaping me into a better person. I have admiration for her strength, and am inspired to continue forward despite obstacles because I am here for a reason. I got a new historical perspective as well, as unfortunately indigenous history is not a topic commonly talked about or learned in school. I could go on, but she has impacted and changed my viewpoint for the better and has become an inspiration for teenage girls aka warriors everywhere. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
Thank you BPL for an ARC copy of, “Girl Warrior,” coming out October 7, 2025! Blending memoir with essay with poetry, this book had me misty eyed on page one! Like all of Harjo’s poetry it radiates with love, contemplation and pure magic. Themes of this powerful book contain everything from love to mystery to ethics and friendship, feeding your spirit, fury, and community. A profound piece that every young person (and older people too!) ought to read!
November 1, 2025
The author offers life wisdom and inspiration in this short novel written for Native girls and women. It has content for everyone though and I appreciated how she shared stories about her own experiences and offers ideas for connecting with nature, poetry, music and other tools of transformation. If you aren't bothered by short chapters that weave but aren't necessarily chronological, then you may also appreciate the writing.
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