Thursday, April 29, 2010

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix ****


Although I'm due for an adult book, my school librarian friend suggested this one to me. I thought I'd give it a try & I'm glad I did!

I know the whole crazy-future-government thing has been done many times before in both adult and children's literature (Below the Root, The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, etc.), but this is a fresh look at it from the perspective of a 12 year old boy.

Luke is a forbidden third child, prohibited by the government and hidden in his family's attic. Luke has no friends, and has never left the farm he is raised on. What little freedom he has is lost when the woods next to his house are torn down and a new subdivision is built. Now he can never leave the house again.

But one day, he sees a face in a window of one of the new houses. Is this another illegal child? Luke takes the biggest risk of his life--he sneaks to the neighbor's house to find out. What he learns turns his world upside down.

This is the first book in a series called the Shadow Children, and I can't wait to read the next one!

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