Among the Hidden

I read Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Along with Haddix being a New York Times bestselling author, this book also received the California Young Readers medal along with many other recognitions and awards. This book's main character is a boy named Luke who lives with his mom, dad, and two older brothers, Matthew and Mark. However, the government has made a law that each family is only allowed two children. So, Luke lives every moment of his life in hiding. Luke is a shadow child. Luke's family live on a farm in the middle of the woods, so if Luke was cautious he was allowed to be outside and help in the barn. However, when Luke was twelve the government came in and cleared out the woods for new houses. Luke wasn't allowed to look out the window, let alone go outside. Luke stays in the attic, and discovers a vent that he can look out to observe the neighbors. Luke catches a glimpse of a third child in the window of the neighbor's house, so he decides to go investigate. Luke meets a girl named Jen who is also a shadow child. Jen is planning a rally of shadow children to protest against the population law. She encourages Luke to go, but he refuses. Jen never returns, and Luke eventually figures out that she was killed at the rally. Luke is offered a fake I.D. by Jen's dad which he accepts, and is now starting his new life as Lee Grant with the goal of helping other shadow children. I think the appropriate grade level for his book would be fifth grade to twelfth grade. I think a really interesting activity to do with Among the Hidden in the classroom would be to compare the population laws in the book to the real population laws in China. This would open the students to the academic connection to the real world.