By Margaret Peterson Haddix
Luke has never been to school. He’s never had a birthday
party, or gone to a friend’s house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never
had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by
the Population Police. 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.
Then, one day Luke sees a girl’s face in the window of a
house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he’s met a
shadow child like himself. 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?
Well, this book has been out a while and it’s one of those I
kept meaning to read. I found that it is very much in the Dystopian style that
is now prevalent everywhere (and frankly I’m starting to tire of) but this is
geared toward younger kids, with the short span of the book. But don’t let that
fool you, this book is written in top-form, it’s not only good for younger
kids, I was engrossed and I’m in college. It’s a great premise. Nobody is
allowed to have more than 2 kids, and yet there is an underground group of
children who are all the 3rd child, or shadow children who have to
decide if they stay in the shadows or come out into the light. It’s great in a
terrible way. The writing reminded me a lot of Lois Lowry’s The Giver. It had
the same sort of feel to it, just a little dimmed down because it is meant for
a little lower reading level.
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