Among the Hidden

August 31, 1998
Haddix (Running Out of Time) chillingly imagines a dystopia in this futuristic novel. Born into a totalitarian state that brutally enforces a two-children-only policy, 12-year-old Luke Garner, an "illegal" third child, has spent his entire life hiding from anyone outside his immediate family. His troubles multiply when the government makes his dirt-poor parents sell the woods surrounding their farm in order to build a housing development for "Barons" (the privileged elite), and it therefore becomes too dangerous for Luke to go outside. Next, the Garners are hit with a crippling tax bill and ordered to sell their hogs, so Mom has to get a factory job. Luke spends every day alone, hidden in his attic room, until he meets Jen, a "shadow child" secreted in the Baron house next door. She turns his whole world upside-down, introducing him to her secret Internet chat room and giving him literature analyzing the government's repressive policies. After Jen's foolhardy rally of shadow children ends in bloodshed, Luke is faced with a decision that will irrevocably determine his fate. The plot development is sometimes implausible and the characterizations are a bit brittle, but the unsettling, thought-provoking premise should suffice to keep readers hooked. Ages 8-12.

In this young adult science fiction thriller, set sometime in the not-too-distant future, overpopulation and food scarcity have led to the Population Laws, restricting couples to having no more than two children. The first of the Shadow Children series tells the story of Luke Garner, a third child, living a secret, hidden life in the attic of his parents' farmhouse. When a housing development threatens the family's privacy, Luke must go even deeper into hiding--where he discovers that he isn't alone. Jonathan Davis reads with richness and sincerity, drawing listeners into a world that is both starkly different and frighteningly familiar. S.E.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine