Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Paperback | 120791002234815 | T HAD | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Paperback | 120791002234824 | T HAD | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Paperback | 120791002426564 | T HAD | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Danger continues to loom over Luke now that he's out of hiding in the second book in bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix's Shadow Children series.
Luke Garner is an illegal third child. All his life has been spent in hiding. Now, for the first time, Luke is living among others. He has assumed a deceased boy's identity and is attending Hendricks School for Boys, a windowless building with cruel classmates and oblivious teachers. Luke knows he has to blend in, but he lives in constant fear that his behavior will betray him.
Then one day Luke discovers a door to the outside. He knows that beyond the walls of Hendricks lie the secrets he is desperate to uncover. What he doesn't know is whom he can trust -- and where the answers to his questions may lead him...
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This sequel to Among the Hidden picks up with Luke finally out of hiding and going to boarding school under an assumed identity. "While Haddix is often able to capture the suspense of her earlier work," wrote PW, "this installment gets mired in too many confusing details." Ages 9-14. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In this sequel to [cf2]Among the Hidden,[cf1] Luke--a third child in a society where family size is legally limited to two children--begins attending the Hendricks School for Boys with a new name and identity. There he discovers that several classmates are also shadow children posing as fellow students. Luke's quest for selfhood is convincingly portrayed in an unusually tense plot. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5^-7. In Among the Hidden (1998), Luke Garner was growing up as a forbidden third child in a society that has outlawed more than two children per family. Here, he's 12 years old and enrolled with fake credentials in a boarding school as Lee Grant. Homesick and scared, he tries to keep a low profile; but there is no privacy whatsoever--eight boys to a bedroom, communal bathrooms, and hall monitors and guards everywhere. Finding his way around school is a nightmare, classes are incomprehensible, and teachers are indifferent. When he spots a door open to the outdoors, he sneaks out, returning reluctantly at dusk. He soon discovers others slipping through the door to meet regularly in the woods. Unfortunately, there's a traitor in the group who's working for the Population Police to unmask and turn in the shadow children. Can the illegals be saved from certain death? Luke and his experiences are believable in the appealing, simple futuristic story. Kids who've read the first book will welcome this one. --Sally Estes
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Luke, a third child, hides quietly in his house, eluding the Population Police because he lives in a society in which families are only allowed two children. Now he has a chance to come out of the shadows by taking on an assumed identity and leaving home. This sequel to Among the Hidden (S & S, 1998) has Luke, now Lee, entering the Hendricks School for boys and a completely new existence where he feels lost and confused by his surroundings. He has gone from a furtive solitary existence to one in which he is never alone, from being desperate for company to being hazed by his classmates, particularly his roommate, "the Jackal." Lee learns to cope with the changes before him by escaping through the door to the outside. The story is artfully told with suspense and interesting twists. As Lee's confusion dissipates, readers begin to see what is going on. Lee is a fully realized character, developing courage and a true sense of self. Peripheral characters are not as fully developed, serving solely to further the story. Repeated references to Jen, another third child from the first book and martyr to all third children, may cause readers to wonder what they have missed. By the end of the story, the main character evolves into "L" and the author has created the possibility for another sequel. This compelling read can be enjoyed alone but it's sure to leave readers wanting to know the whole story.-Susan M. Moore, Louisville Free Public Library, KY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The unsettling, futuristic totalitarian society created in Among the Hidden (1998) continues in this equally compelling sequel. Having decided in the first novel to leave his family to attend school in the outside world, Luke Garner, an illegal third child in a world where food is scarce and only two children are accepted, begins this story with his arrival at a private boys' school for elite "Barons." With a fake ID obtained by a mole in the Population Police, Luke assumes the name Lee Grant. Although the story starts off slowly, the suspenseful plot picks up rapidly as Luke tries to blend in and adjusts to his new life away from his family and among strangers. He is quick to notice the odd behavior of the other boys and the strange arrangement of the school itself; he soon discovers that other "shadow" children like him attend the school and crashes one of their secret meetings. The height of the story reveals Population Police undercover agents disguised as students and Luke's attempt to save himself and the other shadow children. Luke is exposed to the truth behind the school and the adults who help run it, and must ultimately make another life decision. Thought-provoking issues, such as a government with too much power, raised in the first novel, as well as Luke's determination to change the world, carry on throughout this impressive sequel. In the end, Haddix leaves readers longing for more about Luke Garner. (Fiction. 9-13)