Tag: middle grade

Book Review: Among the Hidden (Shadow Children, Book #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Reviewed by MCL Staff Member Harriet Engle

Luke is the third child in a family of Father, Mother, Matthew, and Mark. Because of his third-child status in a world where having more than two children means the parents have broken the law, Luke must stay hidden – at all costs. When this story begins, he is somewhere near 12 years old. On his sixth birthday, Luke’s mother told him why he could not go to school, and could not ride to town in the pickup truck. He could play and explore the woods around his house, but even that was taken away from him, too.

He wondered: Am I the only “third child” in the world? One day while looking out of the vents in his attic bedroom, he discovers Jen in one of the houses that now occupies the his woods, and his small world stretches open just a little bit, possibilities become more real, tragedies . . . well, I will let you read the story.

This is a story about possibilities in a world where governments try to take control of the human spirit and the basic but profound needs of that spirit: the need for relationship; the need for freedom; the need for self-expression, to name a few. It is a story about a government going well beyond defining what is right or wrong.

 


From the publisher:

  • Reading age : 8 – 12 years
  • Lexile measure : 800L
  • Grade level : 3 – 7

Guest Review by Alexis: Winnie the Horse Gentler Series

Calling all horse lovers!

 

Dandi Daley Mackall will satisfy your heart for horses as she takes you along through the Winnie the Horse Gentler series. Starting with “Wild Thing” where Winnie, a 12 yr old girl who loves horses, faces tragedy as her mom dies in a car accident, and her dad moves her and her sister Lizzy all over the country. Never in one place long enough to settle down, now they are in Asheville, NC. When Winnie meets her dream horse she doesn’t want to leave. But the owner of the horse doesn’t want to give it up.

Dandi Daley Mackall describes things very well. She gives lots of details. There is suspense woven throughout this book.

Happy reading.

-Alexis


Hey, kids! Would you like us to post your book reviews on the MCL Youth Services Blog, just like Alexis? If you would like to contribute a review to introduce other kids to a book you love, just email Lindsay Bandy at lbandy@manheimlibrary.org.