Reviews - Dawn Raid | The StoryGraph

88 reviews for:

Dawn Raid

Pauline Vaeluaga Smith

4.03 AVERAGE

sheri_of_literaria's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

jesebrooks's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I loved this book. Can’t wait to recommend it to middle schoolers. Important and timely parallels to ICE raids in the US right now.

oceia's review against another edition

3.0

Read this for a reading challenge. I don't typically pick up middle grade books. I think that the narration was very good and did a great job of capturing the voice of a preteen girl, however there's a reason I don't really read middle grade. I didn't know very much about the Polynesian Panthers (though I knew they existed which is probably more than the average American) so this was definitely and interesting peek into that history. Also thematically relevant to 2025, where immigration raids are still unfortunately frequent.

jamiereads's review against another edition

3.0

emotional informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

emstewart23's review against another edition

4.0

Such an interesting and insightful historical fiction novel about 1970s New Zealand. The character’s voice was so entertaining and enjoyable. I’m so glad I had to fulfill a prompt for a book about New Zealand so I could pick this up!