All About Middle Grade Review: Children of Refuge

Children of Refuge (Children of Exile, 2) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, September 12, 2017. 272 pages. Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Source: Publisher.

It’s been barely a day since Edwy left Fredtown to be with his parents and, already, he is being sent away. He’s smuggled off to boarding school in Refuge City, where he will be with his brother and sister, who don’t even like him very much. The boarding school is nothing like the school that he knew, there’s no one around looking up to him now, and he’s still not allowed to ask questions!

Alone and confused, Edwy seeks out other children brought back from Fredtown and soon discovers that Rosi and the others—still stuck in the Cursed Town—might be in danger. Can Edwy find his way back to his friends before it’s too late? 

First Sentence

The man lunged out of the darkness to grab me as I ran by.

After the surprise twist at the end of Children of Exile, I could not wait to read the next one. Lucky for me, I just so happened to have a copy that I was fortunate enough to receive for review consideration.

• It has taken me longer than planned to get my thoughts in order to discuss Children of Refuge. It was a great book, but one that requires some 'unpacking' to really delve into why it was such a fascinating book. Bear with me as I try to explain, without spoiling it, why it left such an impact on me as a reader and why I think y'all should be interested in checking out the series as a whole (p.s. there's still one more book after this one [not released yet *cries*]).

• First off, I really enjoyed that this book was told from Edwy's perspective as it gave the story a new angle to see things from. Even though Edwy and Rosi are quote different from one another, they have more in common then you think when it comes to their respective story lines. Not just in that they were the oldest in the Fred-Town that they were taken to as young children; but in that they both had different prejudices to work through to gain an understanding of the world that they were returned to and their what role they would choose to play in it. 

• Now onto the aspects of the book that have caused me problems (hence the delay on this post) in putting this post together. There are many reasons that I thought it was interesting to include certain aspects of the the city of Refuge in the book; like how the citizens there went about insulated in a world of their own without really taking note of those around them...except if they were 'someone'.I know I am not putting this well, but it spoke so much to our times and how everyone is so absorbed in their phones that there is no real communication anymore. You know that feeling  of everyone's only in it for themselves, I thought Margaret Peterson Haddix did an excellent job showing how that mentality is so destructive. It was done in a boldly yet subtle way.

Final Verdict: Children of Refuge- Wonderful character development and progress of the overall plot makes this a great follow-up to Children of Exile. I will now impatiently await to see what will happen next (that end, of my gosh!!)!!

A copy of this book was received for review consideration. All thoughts are my own.