Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Among the Hidden

Margaret Peterson Haddix
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1998

Twelve-year-old Luke is an outlaw.

In a future world where being a third-born child is a crime punishable by death, Luke lives like a shadow, hiding every time someone comes near his family's farm. Then, when the government builds an upscale housing development next door Luke is sure he will never be allowed to go outside again.

But his family aren't the only ones with a secret to hide.

Among the Hidden is the very best dystopian science fiction for young readers that I have ever come across. Intelligent, suspenseful, with well drawn characters and a chillingly believable setting, this book is one of my favorites. Ages 10 and up.

6 comments:

  1. i greatly enjoyed this book at your husband's suggestion a few years back. i went on to read more of the series and found it not quite as good as the first book. i never finished the series-so i went back and started over and greatly enjoyed "among the hidden" again-but still didnt make it through the series! :)

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  2. that was rebecca-and this is me again...i dont know why my comments keep posting under my husband's name. sorry!

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  3. I agree. The first book in the series is brilliant. The rest is okay, but not anywhere near the level of the first book.

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  4. Oo, I wanted to read this one! I'm adding it to the TBR pile. Actually, I think the kids' Scholastic handout has a copy...

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  5. I'm glad you enjoyed this book, Bec. It was my personal opinion that this book should have been a Newbery honor. I think it came out the same year as "Holes" and "A Year Down Yonder," both absolutely stellar books, and so "Among the Hidden" got passed over. Any other year it would have made it.

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  6. That year people thought there would be a ton of Newbery Honors because there were so many great children's books written. In fact, I'd like to see a list of the semifinalists sometime. But Holes was just head and shoulders above the rest. And A Long Way from Chicago, in my (arrogant) opinion, would have won the award any other year. So it was the only honor book. It's too bad. I think Among the Hidden might very well have received an honor if it came out a year or two later.

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