LS 5623 Advanced Literature for Young Adults

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 1998. Among the Hidden. Aladdin Paperbacks: New York.
ISBN 0689824750

In the not so distant future, food supply is such a dire problem that the government has limited families to two children per family. Luke was born at a time when the consequences of having a third child were not as steep. Before, he the woods around his home gave him the freedom to do chores and play outside. But now the government has developed that land into a suburb for Barons. Luke is confined to the attic to be sure that no one sees him or even suspects that he exists. His whole world limited to the attic, dinner on the stairs to the attic, a few books he's read over a hundred times, and an air vent that gives him a view of the Baron neighborhood. Once day he spies a child's face peering out of a window on a house he knows had two children already out for the day. Once he gathers up his courage, he goes over and meets Jen and learns that he's one of many shadow children in the world. When the rally for freedom planned by Jen ends in bloodshed, Luke gets the opportunity to get a fake I.D. and another life. But what will he do with this new found freedom?

Among the Hidden is the beginning of a series about shadow children, or children born after the second child. As a first book in the series, the story spends much of its time setting up the world in which it set. We learn through the hardships of Luke's family and through Luke's imprisonment that the government is a strict and often uncaring and unfair leadership. We learn though Jen's rather more relaxed form of imprisonment, (thought not by much) that the government isn't perfect in discovering shadow children and that some officials can be bribed.

What impressed me most about this book is the potential for the growth of Luke's character. In this book he is too frightened to join the rally but sees the sense in shadow children uniting and asserting their freedom. The death of his friend Jen and the opportunity to leave his family with a fake I.D. to get an education are going to be major catalysts in the reasons and ways he goes about taking up the cause for shadow children everywhere. As a reviewer for School Library Journal noted in September 1998, "the loss of free will is the fundamental theme of an exciting and compelling story of one young person defying authority and the odds to make a difference." Luke's journey to becoming that one person to defy authority and beat the odds is sure to be a fantastic read.

The book is easily read and the shorter chapters make it accessible to reluctant readers. Once kids finish this first novel they will be begging for the rest of the series to find out what happens to Luke. Recommended for Middle School readers. 





Image taken from: http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n5/n25124.jpg