Sanctuary

USA Today Bestseller A Garden State Teen Book Award Nominee (NJ) A Green Mountain Book Award Nominee (VT) A Bank Street Best Children s Book of the Year A YALSA Best Fiction Book For Young Adults A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A Teen Vogue Book Club Pick

Mendoza and Sher s descriptions of emotional trauma are heart-wrenchingly raw. (When she was 3, Mendoza herself emigrated from Colombia to America with her mother and younger brother.) A story of survival and hope, Sanctuary is a gripping work of fiction, with a message about xenophobia that s rooted in a scarily real world. The New York Times

Like classic dystopian novels 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 . . . Sanctuary feels all too real in today s oddly apocalyptic world. Teen Vogue

This searing near-future dystopian novel . . . [uses] a speculative lens to lay bare the trauma and anguish that migrants to the U.S. can experience as well as the human capacity for survival. Though the novel s unflinching honesty and real-world parallels deliver uncomfortable truths, its propulsive narrative and its message of hope and resilience will carry readers through. Publisher Weekly, starred review

In their portrayal of Vali s family s quest for safety, the authors beautifully mirror the treacherous, painful, and terrifying treks involving natural and human threats that migrants to the U.S. undertake as they traverse continents and oceans . . . Wrenching and unmissable. Kirkus Reviews, starred review

[This] stunning work of YA dystopian fiction . . . is a triumph in its genre and so politically astute that it sears. School Library Journal, starred review

This fast-paced drama depicts the trauma of Vali s journey in an unflinching, heart-wrenching way that can feel all too real and timely. The Horn Book

The all-too-possible future in this suspenseful dystopian novel amplifies the undocumented immigrant experience in the U.S. Booklist