"Heartbreaking yet heartening. Even as the tweens confront personal challenges, they remain committed to bettering their surroundings in a moving narrative that highlights issues relating to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis while celebrating the healing power of art—including dance, folklore, music, and poetry—and the solace one can find in connecting with one’s heritage." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A captivating, exquisitely penned story of hope and survival." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Powerful...words tighten, trail, or scatter across otherwise barren pages, giving distinct personalities to the dual narrators while also underscoring the deep grief their communities are experiencing. Quigley (of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe) walks a delicate line between terrible sorrow and tentative hope." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
An impactful story about discovering how to declare yourself proudly and bring awareness to your community; this opens an important window into the modern-day life of Native American culture that has yet to be fully explored thoroughly in middle grade literature. — School Library Journal (starred review)
With this excellent choice for reluctant readers and fans of Anna Rose Johnson's The Star That Always Stays (2022), Quigley seems to have carefully and painstakingly placed every word on the page in such a way that, like the red bird, the entire novel spreads its wings and dances. — Booklist (starred review)
