Saturday, November 19, 2016

Children of Exile by Margaret Haddix - NO

Haddix, Margaret Peterson Children of Exile, 296 pages.  Simon (2016), $18.  Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (some danger).

Even though Rosi and the others have been raised in a loving environment by the Freds for almost 12 years, they have always known that they have biological parents somewhere else.  Then one day angry men come and rip the children away from the Freds in order to take them back to their parents.  Some of the children have dreamed of this day, but Rosi is not so sure – especially since home is much angrier and dangerous than life with the Freds ever was.  The peace that Rosi was taught does not seem to be able to hold. 

Haddix spends so much time being coy and mysterious, that she doesn’t make any of the characters very relatable.  I don’t want to be a spoiler, so I can’t really express my disappointments with any clarity.  Haddix has so many other masterful works, I wouldn’t feel bad passing on this series (how can it not be a series, the way it ended).

NOT RECOMMENDED.  Cindy, Library Teacher

1 comment:

Ms. Yingling said...

I felt the same way, but Haddix is local, so my students will read anything by her, so I did buy a copy. Coy. Yup. A tad preachy, too.