Among the Hidden ANNOTATION
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.
Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.
Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows — does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?
SYNOPSIS
Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.
Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police.
FROM THE CRITICS
Christine Heppermann
Among the Hidden packages a thought-provoking premise in a rapid-fire adventure story. Readers can be carried along by the sheer adrenaline of it all.
— Riverbank Review
Publishers Weekly
This futuristic novel focuses on a totalitarian regime and the Internet. PW noted, "The plot development is sometimes implausible and the characterizations a bit brittle, but the unsettling, thought-provoking premise should suffice to keep readers hooked." Ages 8-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Children's Literature - Christopher Moning
If anyone should catch sight of 12-year-old Luke Garner, he's as good as dead. Luke is a Shadow child, the third child of the family in a futuristic society where the Population Law states that families are allowed no more than two offspring. When the government decides to take the woodlands around Luke's house to make way for a housing development, Luke wonders if he will ever be allowed to go outside again. One day, Luke sees someone stirring at a neighbor's supposedly empty house. He risks being caught and befriends Jen, another shadow child. Together, the illegal children discuss their yearning to be free. Jen introduces Luke to other third children, and they converse over the Internet. Luke is not as zealous as his wealthy friend is; Jen's courage costs her her life. Luke forges his own courage, and ultimately sets out to change the world, a little at a time. A fine imaginative and instructive cautionary tale.
The ALAN Review - Betty Carter
Returning to the younger middle school audience she addressed in Running Out of Time, Haddix thrusts readers into a world of too many people, not enough food. The Population Police dictate two children per family. Luke is an illegal "third," forced to stay hidden in the shadows of his family farm. When rich government employees build a housing development on adjacent land, Luke's parents confine him to an attic room. Bored, he spends his days watching the neighborhood. He soon discovers an odd pattern in one house: the family leaves, but activity continues. Luke sneaks over and meets Jen, another "third." Luke, mirroring his disenfranchised family, fears the totalitarian government; Jen using all the resources of her privileged background, challenges it. Although the denouement is swift and tidy, the fully realized setting, honest characters, and fast paced plot combine for a suspenseful tale of two youngsters fighting for their very existence.
VOYA - Debbie Earl
Luke is the youngest of three brothers. When his parents married, they dreamed of having four children: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to labor on the family farm. That was before the government enacted the Population Law, which allowed families only two children. Before the penalties became severe, Luke's mother found she was unexpectedly pregnant and decided to keep the baby. Now the family is trapped: the government has purchased the woodlands surrounding the farm and is cutting down trees to make room for houses. To keep from being seen, Luke is forced to hide in the attic where he becomes a pale, depressed recluse. Luke views the outside world through a small attic air vent, and one day detects another "shadow child" in a neighboring house. He breaks into the seemingly deserted home and meets Jen, who acts tough and fearless and introduces Luke to a chat room of hidden children on the Internet. When Luke and Jen discover a rally planned to protest the Population Law, Jen is determined to attend but Luke is afraid, and stays home. Luke breaks into Jen's house again and learns she was killed in the protest. Jen's father then offers Luke a fake ID, and this bleak allegorical tale ends with Luke leaving to attend school, then rejoin the outside world. This is an easily understood, younger reader's 1984 or Brave New World, presenting a chilling vision of a possibly not-too-distant future. Haddix's other books include Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey (Simon & Schuster, 1996/VOYA December 1996). VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).
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