Girl warrior : on coming of age / Joy Harjo.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An inspirational work of wisdom, warmth, and generosity from a three-term US poet laureate.

"To know ourselves is the most profound and difficult endeavor. Though we are all made of the same questions, we have individual routes to the answers, or to reframing the questions. Why is there evil in the world? Why do people suffer, and some more than others? Why are we here? What are we doing here? What happens after death? Does anything mean anything at all? Who am I and what does it matter?" writes Joy Harjo, renowned poet and activist, in this profound work about the struggles, challenges, and joys of coming of age.

In her best-selling memoir Poet Warrior , 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 including forgiveness, failure, falling, rising up, and honoring our vast family of beings.

Informed by her own experiences and those of her ancestors, Harjo offers inspiration and insight for navigating the many challenges of maturation. She grapples with parents, friendships, love, and loss. She guides young readers toward painting, poetry, and music as powerful tools for developing their own ethical sensibility. As Harjo demonstrates, the act of making is an essential part of who we are, a means of inviting the past into the present and a critical tool young women can use to shape a more just future. Lyrical and compassionate, Harjo's call for creativity and empathy is an urgent and necessary work.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In this lyrical memoir, former U.S. poet laureate Harjo (Washing My Mother's Body) offers candid reflections on her artistic development and stirring inspiration for young Native women. In short chapters that address the reader directly, Harjo weaves profound personal experiences--including her grief over the death of her daughter, her struggles with crippling stage fright, and her memories of transformative musical experiences--with concise wisdom ("Your spirit doesn't tell you what to do. It shows you the story. What you choose to do is up to you"). Throughout, she remains consistently focused on the importance of creative expression, noting that writing is "part of carrying on voice, a voice that is full of stories that us strength to survive, create, and keep going." She also soberly considers the challenges facing her fellow members of the Muscogee Nation, conceding that she "doesn't have the words to help" the community's problems with addiction or poverty, only "questions, tears, and anger," though "some questions can pry open a corner where light can shoot through." Elegant and worldly-wise, Harjo's ruminations linger long after the final page is turned. This offers valuable guidance for readers of all stripes. (Oct.)

Kirkus Book Review

Words to the wise. Poet Laureate Harjo addresses young Native girls in her latest melding of memoir and guidance, prose and poetry. Drawing on the challenges of her own life, she counsels readers who may be facing sadness, anger, grief, or despair. Growing up, she witnessed her father's betrayal of her mother, leading her to advise wariness about "placing your romantic dream on the back of someone who has no idea of your intention and no interest in your dream or you." Becoming pregnant as a teenager, Harjo struggled with the challenges of motherhood, dealing with a volatile partner, and trying to find her own way in the world. When she felt overwhelmed and suicidal, she discovered that there was "tremendous power in asking for help." Also powerful was listening to her own inner spirit. Harjo's world is spiritually resonant, swirling with ancestral memories and thoughts emanating from plants, animals, other humans, and even rainbows. "Every place has a signature energy," she writes, "as does every object, every being." She urges readers to be open to the "infinite possible versions" of their own stories. Believing that when the mind is hungry, "it searches for art, literature, performance, and knowledge," Harjo decided "to fall in love with creativity." She took up the saxophone at the age of 40, after having been discouraged to play the instrument when she was a child. The joy of making music helped her to transcend self-consciousness about playing: "There would be no story without mistakes," she writes. Harjo pays homage to her ancestors and tribal traditions, pointing to the cultural lessons that can be learned around the kitchen table and the richness of ancestors' wisdom. Listen to ancestors, she says, but be aware, she slyly adds: "Some ancestors are troublemakers." Warmhearted advice. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.