Customer Reviews

Among the Enemy (Shadow Children)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a 5th grade teacher and read the "Shadow Children" series aloud to my class each year. I was pretty disappointed with Among the Brave as I felt the author spent far too much time retelling the story of the earlier books. Among the Enemy was riveting. It began very strong and the momentum never dissipated. The main character of the story has shifted once again, to Matthias (one of the kids first encountered in Among the Imposters) and it also takes a noticeably spiritual turn. I was ready to be disappointed again, but Ms. Haddix did a fine job of storytelling with this one. It is a fine series to read when a class is studying civil rights, the Constitution, or for older kids ecology, and childbirth policies in this country and others. I'm eager to read the next in the series, whenever that may be.

I am a 6th grade teacher and I used the first book in the series as a class novel. During the rest of the year, I read the next four books. Anytime we had a few minutes at the end of class, instead of taking the five minutes to talk, as most students will choose to do, my students bugged me to read to them. We finished the fifth book on the last day of school and many of them were planning to check the sixth out of the library over the summer. I teach in an inner-city school and you should know that many of this children have never read a book in their life unless they were forced to, but they were all getting on-line from the school computer putting the book on reserve before it was even released. I would call that a powerful book. The only problem with the books, is that, as an English teacher, I teach my students to look deeper into text, but there are many questions that are not answered; as a mother of twins, I could sympathize with them when they were curious about how this phenomenon would be dealt with in this society. They asked many deep questions I could not answer, and I would love to have some kind of background information for those of us who have cosen to teach this book to our students. They are asking the questions, but there are no answers!
You should read these books, because they are not just for children. I had a parent call and ask me about them, because her son was telling her about them and she was interested in reading them herself. I am looking forward to the final book in the series; I hope the children do gain their freedom and are allowed to live free!

I got this book at about 5 o'clock and had finsihed it by about 11, if you get the point. It is definitely the best book yet and my new favorite. Throughout the whole series many shadow children join the cause to fight the Population Police, but this book has the most action against them and the most suspense. Matthias is the main character and this brings in more history of some of the characters so far (Alia, Percy, and Matthias). The best part is the suspense and excitement of what happens in the book. I've been disappointed by the fact that the third children never "win" anything over the Pop. Police, but I wasn't disappointed by this one. It is the best book so far.

Speachless. It was so good that i finished it in less than 2 days. Filled with unexpected twists and turns that will keep u busy!! WOW! It is maybe the best book in the series yet!

For fans of the books, I think you'll agree with me. I wouldn't say it's my favorite of the series, but it's definately up there. When I read "Among the Betrayed," I was REALLY interested in learning more about Matthias, Percy, and Alia.... I got my wish! It has practically not-stop adventure, plot twists, and at least one part that'll leave you thinking "Why didn't I figure that out?" I love it when books do that! Anyway, buy this book!

Matthias, Percy, and Alia wake up in the middle of the night and see the Population Police at their school. The Population Police gather all of the students and put them in trucks. Matthias isn't buckled correctly and he can escape, but he decides not to leave Percy and Alia behind. On the way to the work camp the three try to think of a way to escape. Matthias finds a rusty nail and tries to cut them loose. When he doesn't succeed, he drives the nail into a tire. A tree falls on the truck and Matthias, Percy, and Alia escape.
Alia is injured and Percy and Matthias are trying to get to Mr. Hendrick's house. Along the way they see a group of Population Police shooting at rebels. Percy gets shot in the leg by a stray bullet and Matthias is the only one who isn't injured. Matthias hides them in the cabin where the rebels were and goes for help.
When Matthias gets to Mr. Hendrick's house he finds Mrs. Talbot, who is a nurse. Matthias takes her to the cabin and Percy and Alia are gone. Matthias goes outside and sees a group of Population Police. While they are asking him questions, gunfire breaks out in the woods. Matthias rescues one of police and drives away.
The officer, named Tiddy, signs Matthias up for the Population Police. Matthias meets the commander and also sees Nina. Nina and Matthias plan to meet in a bathroom. Nina tells Matthias about their plan to destroy the ID cards that the Population Police have. After that Matthias runs into Tiddy. Tiddy tells him how they burnt down the cabin and the woods and Tiddy dies all of a sudden because of poisoning. Matthias gets really upset because Percy, Alia, and Mrs. Talbot might be dead. The commander starts treating Matthias like a son because he thinks that Matthias is sad about Tiddy's death.
Nina and Matthias use the opportunity to spy on the commander. Matthias finds out a lot of information and they make a plan to obliterate the building that has both food and IDs. Matthias and Nina plan to get out of headquarters and give the food to the people of the country. Nina helps Matthias escape and he does. Once outside he runs to a car he thinks Nina is in. To his surprise another Population Police officer is in the car. The officer tells Matthias that he is on their side.
When they get to the building people come and take the food. When everyone is out of the building a bomb starts to detonate. Matthias runs back inside and grabs a security officer and drags him out. Then when Matthias out the door, the commander shows up and Matthias throws the security officer at the commander. Right after that the building explodes.
Matthias wakes up a few days later and his partner takes him to Mr. Hendrick's house. Matthias gets a surprise when they arrive at the house. Read the book to find out what happens.

I really liked this book, because it did a good job of keeping you in suspense. Margaret Peterson Haddix did a great job at describing and I felt like I was actually there among the Population Police with Matthias. I didn't like how half of the book is spent talking about how Matthias is sad about something he doesn't even know is true.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the Among Series. I think they should read it because it is the best one. I couldn't say that only girls or boys would like it. I think that either gender would like this book.

Among The Enemy
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
R.Ajoc
P.1

Guess who is back, Matthias is back again in Among The Enemy. As Matthias wakes up in his dormitory everyone is gone and taken from the population police, yet nothing can stop Matthias as he escapes from the population police and into a deep forest along a highway. Then everything gets worse Matthias' friend is injured, but daring Matthias has no choice but to rescue his poor friend. As Matthias set them in a cabin which they found, Matthias leaver the friend alone in the cabin with a broken leg. Matthias then looks for help at Mr. Talbots house, where Mrs. Talbot agrees to help Matthias and his friend, so off they go into the woods to save their injured friend.
This book is another justified book by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Better than all of her Shadow Children series books. Margaret have just made each of her books better and better as her Shadow Children series progresses. Phrases such as the ways that Margaret Peterson Haddix makes connections with you. For me the way that the Commander yells at kids like when he was yelling at kids he would say " You just threw it out?", it connect with me because parents tell you over and over again dont throw away good food, some people do not even have food in their stomach. Or when the commander yelled "It is our food, not thiers", showed why wouldn't he give to the poor? Why is he so selfish, like those in the real world who are just mean and greedy, they want everything for themselves.
Among The Enemy is just the best work I have seen so far out of Margaret Peterson Haddix. Detail after detail, and how its full of action. This book is not the boring page after page "UGH", type book its the book that you can "sink" into. You really get tied into this book and you just want to turn the page and keep on reading, even when you only want to read for thirty minutes you end up reading two hours! If your looking for a book that will be interesting, full of action, not boring, and just a book that you will sink into this is the book for you!

Among the Enemy by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a heart pounding, intense book similar to the other books in it's series. It starts with an illegal third child named Matthias running away from the population police with his two close friends, Percy and Alia. In their struggle, Alia and Percy get very badly hurt and Matthias has to figure out a way to save them, before it's too late. When Matthia's returns to his friends with help from a nearby nurse named Mrs. Hendricks he discovers that they have mysteriously disappeared. Before he can figure out what happened to them, he's caught in an ambush, and ends up saving a Population Police's life. The Population Police takes Matthias and signs him to be a population police. How will he save his friends now? But more importantly, how will he save himself?

My opinion of this book is that it is an easy read, and is well written but it is almost too similar to the other "Among the Hidden" book's plots. I would recommend this book to younger people who enjoyed the other books that are in this series, and are looking for a suspenseful book to read.

The protagonist of the story is Matthias, he is a smart, brave, 13 year old boy, who is and illegal 3rd child. His mission is to shut down the Population Police.
The Population Police is the antagonist. They are mean, ulgy, and bad people with a bad leader. Their goal is to get rid of the rebels and 3rd children.
So Matthias and the other rebels try to set up a plan and exicute it right under the Population Police's noses. So will he make it or will he not? It's your turn to read it and find out.
Somthing I like about this book is that the author put a lot of action in this book.

Matthias' school was taken by the Population Police and all he wants to do is get himself and his friends to safety. They get away from the Population Police but Matthias friends get some injuries so he went to go get help. They got back to where the two friends were staying and found them missing. Matthias then got into the Population Police and became good friends with the commander. At the same time, he is in a group that is planning a rebellion against the government. He then had some choices and major roles in the plan.

I liked this book because there was always something happening that you wasn't expecting. Everything else was amazing.

This book is for someone who likes action in their books and enjoyed the other books in this series. Anyone who is an all right reader can read these books.