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A Coming of Age Handbook
by Joy Harjo
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.
"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." —Kirkus Reviews
" Elegant and worldly-wise, Harjo's ruminations linger long after the final page is turned. This offers valuable guidance for readers of all stripes." —Publishers Weekly
This information about Girl Warrior was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joy Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She is the author of several poetry collections, memoirs, children's books, and music albums. She is the recipient of many awards for her creative work, including a National Humanities Medal. She lives in Oklahoma.
Author Interview
Link to Joy Harjo's Website
Name Pronunciation
Joy Harjo: HAR-jo
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