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Booktalking Colorado Full Record:
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Title: |
Among the Hidden |
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Author: |
Haddix, Magaret Peterson |
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Date Published: |
1998 |
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Genre: |
Sci-Fi |
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Grade Level: |
6 - 8 |
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Booktalker: |
Bonnie Phinney |
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Booktalk:
Luke knew, deep down inside that he would never be allowed outside his house again. Not after his parent sold the land with his forest. The trees were rapidly disappearing, now, and soon the houses would be built and the people would come and he would be stuck - stuck in his attic. Luke's brothers didn't like this state of affairs, either - not one bit. For them it meant they'd have to do Luke's chores. It wasn't fair.
How many of you have two or more siblings? How many of you are the third (or fourth or fifth) child? Well, be glad you don't live in Luke's world, a world very different than yours. In his world, because he’s the third son, he's called a "shadow child" - a third son in a society that allows only two per family. The penalty for breaking the law is severe - would you believe death - if they are caught. So, now that the farm is no longer isolated, Luke is confined to the house. Worse! He is confined, alone, to the attic all day - he can't even peek out a window; it's just too risky.
One day Luke discovers that if he piles boxes high enough, he can see out a vent - a clear view of the new houses being built. He watches all the people and all the activity with fascination: after all, he's never seen anyone but his own family before. In a moment of rebellion, he decides he will not tell his parents about his discovery. They just might take that away from him too.
As the new neighborhood takes shape, he becomes familiar with the families moving in and even names them - the big car family, the gold family, the birdbrain family, the sports family. He watches, he counts, he knows their routines. He knows when everyone is gone.
One day, when he knew that everyone had left - because he had counted - he looks, and then he sees it. Just out of the corner of his eye, Luke catches a glimpse of something behind the window. A face. A child's face. In a house where two boys already live!!
Luke risks everything to find out who is there, and finally he meets Jen. Jen changes everything; she opens up new worlds to Luke, frightening, exciting worlds. She's even connected - via the Internet - to hundreds of other shadow children, and she has this wild plan - a wild plan to stage a rally, enabling "thirds" like her and Luke to take their rightful place in society. Luke is excited - and awed - by the possibilities. Can a teen even think of successfully challenging this totalitarian regime?
Or will Luke forever remain
Among the Hidden?
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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