Shadow children (book)
Shadow Children (Orig .: Among the Hidden ) is a 1998 novel by the American author Margaret Peterson Haddix and is about the twelve-year-old Luke, who is a so-called shadow child. The novel takes place in a fictional society in which the government forbids women to have more than two children. This is monitored by the so-called population police.
The book for young people was published for the first time in March 1998 by the US publisher Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing . In the competition for the “ Book Favorite 2006”, Schattenkinder was the most popular book among 12 to 14 year olds.
action
Luke Garner is the third son of a farming family and lives in a society in which one can only have a maximum of two children per family. Therefore, he lives in hiding for the first twelve years of his life. His family lives in the country, near a forest. However, when this is cleared to build houses for members of the government and other financially well-off families ("barons"), Luke is no longer allowed to go outside, not in the backyard or even near a window for fear of discovery. From then on he has to spend the whole day in the attic when his older brothers Matthew and Mark and their parents (Edna and Harlan) are away, just so that he does not expose himself to any risk . Even when eating, he is not allowed to sit at the table with the family, but rather sits on the stairs, which are not visible from the window.
One day he once again secretly observed through a ventilator opening in his room (the attic) how all neighbors left their houses, as they do every day, by nine o'clock at the latest. He briefly spots a girl's face behind a window in the neighboring house. After a while he dares to cautiously sneak into the house, since he suspects that the child is also a child who lives in secret, especially since the family seems to consist, at least officially, of a married couple and two teenage boys. This secret intrusion into someone else's house and the encounter with the self-confident Jen Talbot changed what he did not yet know at the time, his entire life. Jen is in contact with other shadow children via the Internet and organizes a demonstration that Luke is supposed to come to. However, he is too afraid to take part and refuses. This saves his life as the demonstration is crushed by the population police and Jen loses her life in the process.
For Luke, the whole affair ends well for the time being, as he is given a new identity with the help of Jen's father, a senior government official who works as a double agent . He receives the papers of a boy who has had a skiing accident, the elder of two sons of a “Baron” family, and leaves his own family for a hopefully better future.
Criticism
“Haddix also provides a lesson about all those who marginalize others, deprive them of their right to self-determination and have no idea how deeply they hurt. [...] A very easy to read and at the same time oppressive book about a society that eats its own children. "
“You read the gripping novel to the end, breathless and anxious. It would be better not to study the global population statistics very carefully. "
"Haddix delivers more than enough tension to intrigue your readers enough to get your book passed on."
"A gripping and intelligent novel."
expenditure
- Schattenkinder , Volume 1, dtv (August 2002), ISBN 3-423-70635-X
Sequels
- Shadow children - Under traitors , Volume 2, dtv (April 2003), ISBN 3-423-70770-4
- Shadow children - Die Betrogenen , Volume 3, dtv (July 2003), ISBN 3-423-70788-7
- Shadow children - In the world of the barons , Volume 4, dtv (March 2005), ISBN 3-423-70907-3
- Shadow children - In the center of power , Volume 5, dtv (February 2006), ISBN 3-423-70984-7
- Shadow children - dangerous freedom , Volume 6, dtv (December 2006), ISBN 3-423-71200-7