Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A Book Review: Among the Hidden

Title: Among the Hidden
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Genre: Dystopian (MG)
Length: 153

Quality Rating: 7
Content Rating: PG

If you know me, you know I love MG. I'm all about middle grade literature, so I was not at all hesitant to read this book. It's about a twelve-year-old boy who is a forbidden third child and must remain hidden all the time, lest the government find him. Once I got through the first few chapters, the book sucked me in, but those first few chapters were a little painful for me. Mainly because the MC, Luke, did not act or think like a 12 year old should. He felt very much younger to me and several times I had to flip back to double check, thinking maybe he was really eight. This is one of the books I would have had a hard time reading as a young reader. I would have felt a little patronized. However, the story line is certainly good, and as I said, once you get past those first few chapters and just realize that Luke acts a little young, it was a good read. And perhaps the reason Luke acts so young is because he hasn't had a real encounter with the outside world? Maybe. I can slightly convince myself of that.

This book is almost G for there is little violence, no sex, and no bad words. However, there is an event at the end (which I won't describe any further than "event" so as to not spoil the book), that pushes this up to a PG rating. But its certainly a book that younger readers, elementary readers will enjoy.

No comments:

Post a Comment