Children of Exile by Margaret Peterson Haddix (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Children of Exile by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-5003-5 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-5005-9 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-7
Twelve-year old Rosi has grown up in peaceful Fredtown, where she, her younger brother Bobo, and dozens of other refugee children have been raised by loving foster Fred-parents who taught them the values of trust, honesty, and nonviolence. Now she and all the other children have returned to their real parents in a town [End Page 575] scarred by war and divided by lingering animosity. Rosi’s naïveté and righteousness soon place her and others in danger she doesn’t understand, and she’s also faced with harsh truths about the Freds themselves. This fast-paced, harrowing tale of innocence lost is a solid dystopia for beginners. The war between brown-eyed and green-eyed people sets a simple, straightforward stage for conflict, while naïve Rosi stands in for the naïve reader to whom everything is explained by adults. Savvy readers will likely catch on quickly to the fact that the Freds are aliens trying to save humanity from itself, but readers new to the genre will appreciate the story’s clarity. What the novels lacks in subtlety, it makes up for with a strong narrative that packs an emotional punch. Dark and heart-wrenching, this first volume in a planned series should excite readers who want thought-provoking stories and those who have outgrown the need for easy answers.
