Sanctuary is a hard read because it melds the dystopian intensity of the Hunger Games with the haunting familiarity of today's America.

In the near future, immigrants in America are persecuted to the nth degree. I felt strong deja-vu to Lois Lowry's Number the Stars as Vali and her family pretend to be natural-born, white citizens; as the government conducts raids and neighbors disappear; as schools teach their students to fear and hate anyone other; as Vali and her brother flee out of state in hopes of finding sanctuary.

Mendoza's criticism of today's politics is thinly veiled at best. The President spouts rhetoric to anyone to has heard America's current president speak. Information is censored and funneled through government-controlled stations. Mendoza even drops "making America great." I actually found Sanctuary harder to read than The Hunger Games *because* it took today's climate and cranked it up to the nth degree. It was hard to detach and get lost in the story, which I suspect was the author's point.

One detail I really liked was the bilingual aspects. Usually when a book has character speaking in another language, they include context clues to determine the meaning. Sanctuary just plows on ahead with the story. As a (non-native) Spanish speaker, I was able to appreciate the seamless back-and-forth between English and Spanish, but it could be hard for some readers. It's also just a taste of what second language learners experience.

Overall, Sanctuary is a powerful, haunting, important book that could easily sit beside The Hate You Give as commentary on the current political climate. The dystopianized elements invites discussion of America's current immigration policies, while Vali's character brings in a heartbreakingly human element.

This story is set in 2032, when the tension about immigration in the U.S has reached dystopian levels. The wall between the U.S and Mexico is built, people are given chips to verify their identity, and states offering sanctuary to immigrants are treated as enemies of the nation.
However, the most disturbing thing about this book is that it truly isn't all that far-fetched or different than what is already going on. We are already building a wall. Our government is already threatening to cut off states that defy them. We are already keeping people in cages. The dystopia in this book is powerful because it forces us to acknowledge that we don't need to imagine it. The dystopia is already here.
This is a heartbreaking portrayal of just how far our society has slid from human compassion and even democracy, if we could have ever claimed to stand for those things in the first place. The writing is immersive, the characters are beautiful, and the story is something that I hope the audience takes to heart to push for meaningful change.

A brutal, heart-wrenching read. While firmly in the YA category, the overall content and specific gory scenes left me cautious with the ages/specific people I would recommend it to. Not because I think young people should be sheltered from harsh realities, but because this is a book that needs to be read and understood in a larger context. (E.g. if I had a thirteen year old and she wanted to read it, I wouldn't advise against it, but I would also read it and have discussions)

In a near future dystopia that feels terrifyingly possible, Vali (an undocumented immigrant) and her family must head across the country to Sanctuary in California. Embedded tracking chips. Effects of global warming. Deportation Forces everywhere. A fast, if difficult, read.

A video of an unnamed 15-year old girl attempting to cross The Great American Wall from Mexico, and subsequently getting blown up by a landmine, goes viral. 16-year old Vali, in her Vermont home, watches the video over and over and wonders what this would mean for her family.

The year is 2032, America’s president is on his third term, a fifty-foot wall has been erected on the US-Mexican border, the media and the internet have been censored, the American economy is in shambles, drought has killed vegetation and livestock, strict water rations are in place, and everyone is microchipped and tracked by the government.

Vali’s younger brother Ernie was born on American soil and is therefore a citizen. But Vali and her Mami are both undocumented. Vali has lived in the US for 12 years, she thinks of herself as an American, but the counterfeit microchip in her arm is a constant reminder that she doesn’t belong. After the viral video, the president declares a state of federal emergency and escalates his already aggressive and inhumane methods by deploying the Deportation Force. Vali has already lost her Papi to ICE, will this new Deportation Force take even more from her? Not long after, Vali’s neighbours and friends start getting taken away one by one. In fear for their safety, Vali, Ernie, and their Mami set off in hopes of getting to California, which has seceded from the United States and has become a sanctuary. Along the way, Vali is joined by people also seeking refuge. Will they all make it or will the Deportation Force catch them first?

Sanctuary has a diverse cast of characters coming from different backgrounds each with their own stories of survival. I would have loved to have seen a bit more of the side characters’ stories fleshed out. One of my favourite side characters is Malakas. He’s Filipino which was very cool to me because I don’t see a lot of Filipino characters in books. I loved his backstory and his personality. I do have a tiny criticism regarding his name. His name means “strong” in English but it’s an adjective in Filipino that’s not really used as a name. So it sounded strange as a name and I found that a bit distracting. There’s also a mini romance in the story which I felt was unnecessary but it didn’t really get in the way of the storytelling so I didn’t mind it too much.

What I loved best about the characters is the realistic portrayal of children. Vali for instance, is not portrayed as some chosen hero, she’s a 16-year old girl trying her best so that she and her younger brother survive. She makes mistakes, she doubts her decisions, she feels lost, she cries, she gets upset, she needs help, and ultimately she’s just trying to do what she can in impossible situations. The younger children in the story throw tantrums and act bratty because they don’t understand what’s going on and they feel frustrated. That realistic portrayal is important because so much has been put on them at such a young age but at the end of the day they’re still just children.

This is a story of survival and I suppose would be considered a dystopian story. But it is so eerily close to reality that a lot of the time I felt as if I was reading a regular contemporary novel. Sanctuary explores a lot of important issues. It shows how difficult the lives are of undocumented immigrants. They are demonized both in the USA in this book and the real USA in our world. But at the end of the day they’re just humans like everybody else trying to have a better life for themselves and their families. This book also shows the danger of having someone in power who constantly dehumanizes groups of people as it gives authority to such harmful ideas. In one scene, as Vali’s family was leaving their apartment, a neighbour who used to babysit her and her brother refuses to even look at them as humans. Sanctuary also explores the importance of being aware of what’s going on in lives outside of our own. After the presidential announcement about the Deportation Force, there’s this obliviousness and callousness in Vali’s classmates where they are annoyed that they had less time to do their quiz because of the announcement, all the while Vali is terrified for her and her family’s safety. And finally, the book explores the topic of organizations and people who are trying to fight injustice and the importance of including people who have been directly affected by the injustice they are fighting against, whatever it may be.

Overall, I found this to be an important and timely read. I hope that this is a book that will serve as warning instead of a book of something that will soon come to pass. I think this is an important read for both students and adults.

Sanctuary was absolutely heart breaking to read. Set in 2032, which isn’t so far in the future we see a United States that I would never want to live in. The President has made a Great American Wall between Mexico and the United States and treats undocumented immigrants horribly. California decides to become their own country and be a safe haven for undocumented immigrants. The President immediately starts putting up another wall between California and the other states.

This book follows Vali, who is originally from Columbia but her family moved to the United States to have a better life. It is just her mother and younger brother now, and they live in Vermont and are scared every day that the DF or the Deportation Force is going to find them. Every citizen of the United States has a chip in their wrist that lets everyone know they are a citizen and not an undocumented immigrant. Vali and her mother have fake chips in their arms, but her little brother Ernie does have a real one because he was born in the US. The President announces that an upgrade to the chips will be happening, and it will let everyone know who has fake chips and they will be deported. Vali and her family are on the run to California, to the now safe haven country.

Sanctuary was really hard to read at times because I was completely invested with the characters. The journey from Vermont to California was so terrifying and horrible, I cried reading about what they had to go through. The scariest thing about this book was how realistic it is, 2032 is not far off in the future and so many things that happened in this book are sadly happening now. It just feels like this book is a look into the future if we do not change things. A scary future where the government controls every single thing in your life, and illegals have to go to labor camps to pay off their debt to America, which what even? This book made me feel every emotion and I do hope there is a sequel because I would like to know what Vali plans to do and some things were left open ended. All in all, this was a spectacular look into a dystopian future that I would never ever want. It is a real life look at how undocumented immigrants are treated now, and how that needs to change.

This was certainly riveting and fast-paced - the book is full of events and tragedies, one atop the other - and not as quite an unlikely dystopia as it once might have seemed. I did feel that the somewhat ambiguous ending more in line with the rest of the book than a miraculously positive one would have been. However I didn't find Vali to be particularly uniquely characterized, and the hints of romance (and the most strongly distinguishable secondary character) seemed to come in a bit too late for me to develop a real attachment. I also felt some elements somewhat unlikely and maximalist - the majority of laws and norms seem to have been done away with but birthright citizenship has remained? the seeming only resistance to the government is one nun, and the entire state of California? - that made it a little hard to buy into. Definitely topical, though, and likely of interest to teens who are able to handle some darkness and who are looking for a quick, dramatic read.

My Review: A YA dystopian novel set in 2032, depicts a not so far off reality of what our country could be, and what in some ways already reflects. As a first generation Mexican - American, I grew up witnessing/experiencing first hand the hardship, and obstacles families face everyday. I am very grateful for everything my parents did for me and my siblings, I know without them and the hardships they had to go through, i wouldn’t be here, or be the person I am today.

Vali is a 16 year old girl, who lives as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Although this book takes place in a dystopian world, in the year 2032, the reality is the book is not too far off what our country might actually look like. There’s a wall that stands between Mexico and the Southern States.. sound familiar?

It depicts first hand what Vali and her family, who represent the too many families, who in reality HAVE been ripped apart, have been separated, and kids who end up having to fend for themselves after their parents get deported must go through to survive, and continue moving forward.

We are all human beings, we are all worthy of a good life ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE, and we shouldn’t be judged by our birth certificate or where we come from.

This book is a must read for EVERYONE to open their eyes, and gain a little more understanding of what life is like for an undocumented immigrant. Support DREAMERS.

My Verdict: I couldn’t stop reading. This novel is deep, with a very strong message and I recommend it to anyone willing to listen. The novel is written in first person, which gives the reader a unique perspective into the life of the main character. I identified with Vali on a much deeper level than I was expecting, and by the end of the book.. I was in tears. Read it, Love it, Recommend it.

Sanctuary is a near-future dystopia that is eerily similar to and imaginable from our present state of affairs. This novel warns of things that may come and some things that are already unfolding. It humanized and individualizes the struggles of undocumented immigrants and should be required reading. The threat of government tracking, of armed deportation forces, could be real in a few years of as a result of this year's election cycle.

First of all, thank you to Wednesday books and NetGalley for an eARC of this!

Set in 2032 in a near dystopian future, America has implanted ID choose, built the Mexico-US wall, and California is now a separate country. Our MC, Vali, must do everything possible to protect her brother and get them to California.

I would content warning the crap out of this book, but it's most of the book! There is sexual assault, death, bombings, drowning, child death, racism, and the very real near future of a racist president.

This book was scary real, and I know a lot of people aren't interested in reading something like this right now, but if you need more motive to vote, this book is it.

*Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*
This book was gut-wrenching and horrifying, with the way it detailed a futuristic dystopian America that is a nightmare for undocumented immigrants. Despite the setting's rough nature and the constant fear of being found out by this brutal government, there is an underlying theme of hope and of anchors that lead you to your roots and your family. It's a hard read but a necessary one, especially with today's escalating hatred and terrible treatment to real undocumented immigrants.

This was one of the most incredible books I have read all year. It was raw and heartbreaking and so so relevant. Told from the not so unrealistic alternate future (year 2032), the United States is a terrifying place to live if you are not born there. The president is fighting for his ideas of the war against undocumented immigrants, creating a horrific regime that is purely inhuman. Everyone is chipped and scanning checkpoints are everywhere. The DF (Deportation Force) swarms the streets pulling people away from their homes and their families.

Vali lives with her mother and little brother in Vermont. While her brother, Ernie was born in the US, Vali and their mother and father sought a better life in America from Colombia, spending a small fortune on bootleg chips to mask their non citizenship. But after their father was detained in a camp, it was just the three of them. But, with more and more DF agents ransacking homes and businesses, the three of them must escape in the night. But, their mother's chip is malfunctioning and she is detained, herself, leaving her children with one last word: "GO." Now, Vali and her brother must travel from Vermont to the sanctuary state of California all alone, having no idea how to get where they are going and no idea what awaits them on their harrowing journey.

This was some of the scariest and saddest words I have ever read. Vali is this insanely strong young woman who NO MATTER WHAT, fights and doesn't stop fighting to protect herself and her brother. She never gives up and her sheer determination in this book (along with others they meet up with who are seeking the same freedoms) had me weeping.

I think this is a book that everyone should read. It should be read and heard and never forgotten. I am so happy to have been given the opportunity to have read this book. I feel like I don't even have the words to summarize this book in order to do it justice.

I really wish I could recommend this unreservedly. It's exactly the type of story we need to be selling and buying and reading and passing on, and I will do those things. I didn't hate it, I didn't even dislike it. I just didn't really connect with it.



Vali is a good character, strong when she needs to be, occasionally selfish and short sighted, more or less a normal teenager. The world she's living in manages to be both horrifically impossible and every likely at the same time. I would have liked to know more about the world, though. There's no real backstory on anything apart from her family and a couple of other people she meets.



As is probably necessary in this kind of story, there's no neat ending. A lot of threads are left floating at the end, people we've met and don't know what happened to. I expected it as I was reading, and it's handled as well as it could be. I hope Vali gets closure on them eventually.



It's a good read and I will be recommending it to people.

Sanctuary is a dystopian YA read set in a near future where the President of the United States takes full military action on immigrants that are in the country or trying to come to the country illegally. This is a harrowing novel about a teenage girl named Vali who must travel with her younger brother across the US to the sanctuary state of California.

In this world, all citizens are microchipped in order to validate their citizenship. They can be and ARE scanned at any point in their day by military forces in order to look for illegal persons to deport. These illegal persons are dehumanized, beaten and treated like rabid animals for simply trying to exist in a better life than where they came from. This book is so sad and for more than one reason. There are some really tough moments in this book and it's also scary to think that it's extremely viable that our own real state of affairs could dissolve into something like this. I think this would be a good read for teenagers in order to open their eyes to possibilities of what could happen in the future and to offer a different perspective from what they may know. The book states it is for readers aged 12 and up but there are some vividly disturbing sections in the story that may be more dependent of the maturity of the younger reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Publishers for allowing me to read this advanced reader's copy for free in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Sanctuary is a book I did not expect to love. I’m a sucker for dystopias and apocalyptic-type books but this one trampled me. Valli is in California as an undocumented illegal immigrant. The year is 2032, so not far away, but the president is locking down on illegals and putting a microchip in everyone to verify their status.

I can’t tell you much more without ruining it but I can tell you that it completely sucked me in. When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it and when I was reading, I needed everyone to leave me alone. I ran through the gamut of emotions and I felt them hard. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- to make me feel these emotions so intensely is the sign of a true writer. It felt very real. It was raw and it was heartbreaking. I felt true fear and anxiety while reading and I applaud Mendoza and Sher for taking an extremely controversial topic and bringing it to light in a way that makes me never see it the same again.

Thank you immensely to NetGalley and Paola Mendoza, Abby Sher and Penguin Teen for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book releases September 1, 2020.

3.75 stars. This was a fast read that gave an exaggerated view of what it is like to be illegally in the United States. The president seems to have Trump’s mentality, but to such an extreme that people have microchips implanted in their skin to track them, drones taking down illegal aliens, land minds blowing people up if they try to cross into the US, etc. For me, the extreme political nature was a turn-off. The story was gripping, but too political for Battle of the Books. It could be popular for book talks, though.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me early access to read and review this title.

This book was POWERFUL.. In Paola Mendoza's debut, we find a future dystopian world (seemingly where we are headed now.....) where a young woman and her brother must find sanctuary from their xenophobic government. This novel packed a punch right to my gut. There were so many parallels to what people of color go through right now and it just... I cried!

This book is a page turner, giving us insight to the brutality of deportation forces people experience today. This is definitely a pain story, but a story of overcoming that pain and forging something new. This book explores labor camps, microchipping for proof of citizenship, and a young woman fighting to save her family. I really appreciate the fact that this author discussed the influence of media on the outlook of our world, showing us what the government wants us to see.

This book was terrifying, but absolutely necessary. I think all young adults and adults alike should read this.

“I wondered what he was thinking or feeling or wishing he’d said to his family the last time he saw them. The last time he’d probably ever see them.”

Sanctuary is a YA dystopian novel set in the not so distant future of 2032. The “Great American Wall” has been built between Mexico and California, citizens are CHIPPED as proof of residency, undocumented immigrants are treated HORRIBLY (I mean, I realize this isn’t far off from the deplorable treatment people receive in 2020, but it’s another level in this world) and censorship is on a level that doesn’t feel so unbelievable considering the current climate of this country.

Vali is a 16 year old girl who has already lived a stress inducing and tragic life as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Her family fled when she was young from a war torn and dangerous Columbia, and has been stress clenching their teeth in a xenophobic run country ever since. Vali is now on the run with her American born younger brother, to cross country from Maine back to California to try to reach sanctuary there. I don’t want to say too much about the plot, because as hard as it is to read you kind of need to read it unfold naturally, so you feel Vali’s pain and desperation as it stacks up.

She is a strong character. Stronger than many that I’ve ever read, and it really puts into deeper perspective what children of immigrants or undocumented immigrants in this country feel and fear. Just imagine, for a second, your home where you were born is essentially a ticking time bomb. Any day you could wake up and be shot because it’s war torn. The only other option is to live in a country where you are treated like a criminal or a vicious animal for no other reason than the color of your skin or where you were originally born. It’s just, heartbreaking. It’s sick that this book doesn’t even feel impossible. I wish it felt like it was so unreal, but this book and it’s messages hit hard because Vali’s fears and desperation for safety and security don’t feel unreal.

All in all this is a great read. Do I think that it’s one that will be impactful and affect people who read it enough that they need to discuss afterward, yes. It is not light reading, but as heavy as it is there is a bit of hope by the end. Feels a bit like a cautionary tale. Like if we don’t wake up in this country, we could be here, and it’s not ok.

“His pain hit me harder and deeper than anything I had felt in my life. And yet I kept nodding. We were all doing the best we could. Trying to survive.”

Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher is absolutely soul-crushing, primarily because although it’s a dystopian fiction, I can see the utter reality in this story. There are frightening realities that hit way too close to home and what’s been happening in the world today.

Vali, her 8-year-old brother, Ernie and her mother live in Vermont in the not too distant future of 2032. The US has cracked down hard on undocumented immigration and has installed microchips in to all documented citizen. Vali and her family have counterfeit chips and when Vali’s moms chip starts to malfunction, she and Ernie have to make the frightening trip across the country – on foot - to her Tia Luna’s home in California, currently a safe state and ‘walled’ off.

Mendoza writes about the power and brutality of the Deportation Force and the struggle of undocumented immigrants, she focuses on real people, not statistics that are easily sweep under the rug. The presence of labor camps where the ‘illegals pay off their debt to America’ is absolutely horrifying and reminiscent of the forced labor camps across Europe during WWII. Microchipping citizens seems like a far away concept but is it really? Sanctuary gave me a lot to think about, not only the strength of one young girl fighting to save herself and her brother but of just how realistic this dystopian fiction felt to me. It also shows the deception of the media, showing citizens (or not showing) what the government wants us to see. I must admit, this had a terrifying lifelike reality to me, especially in light of recent world events.

Sanctuary is a page-turner, and as I said earlier, it is all the more chilling for the fact that if feels all too possible. I’m hopeful for the prospect of a sequel because I don’t think Vali’s story is quite finished yet.

My thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Penguin Teen, and authors Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher for providing me this DRC in exchange for my honest review.

I love how timely this book is, though it's set in the near future. The story is an important one and I'm glad to recommend it widely. Some parts needed a suspension of disbelief that I was too aware of, but it did not make the basic story less believable. I really liked how it ended.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. Reading the description, I was interested in reading this book and gaining a different perspective on this issue. What I failed to realize was that there is a lot of anxiety and paranoia that people face when trying to avoid being discovered. While the writing and plot was very good, the paranoia and anxiety from the characters was too much for me. It started to set off my anxiety which made it very difficult for me to read what was happening. I stopped at almost halfway through the book and I will disregard the anxiety I felt to review based on the content I read, which was really good.

The system set up in this world is unique but realistic. While terrifying, the idea that the government has control over all media to show what they want seems to be something that may happen if we're not careful. The chip implants are also something we may face, not just for identification though, but for other technological purposes too. This book takes place in 2032 and reads like 1984 does - a warning to people that these events may happen if we're not careful with how we deal with things. Especially things we disagree on.

Overall, if it wasn't for my anxiety I would have liked this book. I like books that challenge certain ideas and bring a new perspective. It was both well written and well plotted and I'm sad I can't finish it. Definitely give this book a read.