cover image #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women

Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale. Annick (PGW, dist.), $12.95 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-55451-957-6

The team behind Dreaming in Indian again celebrates a range of indigenous perspectives through a vivid mixture of poetry, essays, and artwork. The book’s four sections correlate to themes of connection, abuse, stereotype, and power. Lianne Charlie contributes a grid of collages and photographs that reflect her creative output and cultural influences while mimicking the platform (Instagram) where she shares them. Sexual abuse and drug addiction surface in several entries (“girls like me/ break every day/ in this great city,” reads Gwen Benaway’s haunting “Honor Song”), and Tiffany Midge’s blistering “What’s There to Take Back?” scoffs at a publication’s call for submissions on the subject of reclaiming Peter Pan’s Tiger Lily (“Would anyone want to reclaim Frito Bandito? Aunt Jemima?... They are made from the same poison”). A closing section highlights stories and images of hope—athletes who have found success, an interview with a Cree doctor who overcame a traumatic youth, and a spread dedicated to teenage Standing Rock activist Anna Lee Rain Yellowhammer. A moving and powerful collection that draws strength from the variety of voices and lived experiences it represents. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)