

Readers will be captivated by Luke’s predicament and his reactions to it. “As in Haddix’s Running Out of Time (S & S, 1995), 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.

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? Finally, he’s met a shadow child like himself. Then, one day Luke sees a girl’s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Among the Hidden is a speculative fiction YA novel by American author Margaret Peterson Haddix, published in 1998.

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. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He’s never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend’s house for an overnight.
