Among the Hidden

Reviewed By Pablo C.

Margaret Peterson Haddix has started an intriguing sequence of books called the Shadow Children. The first book, Among the Hidden, is about a young boy named Luke Garner who is forced to live as a recluse because he is a third child. The thing about being a third child is that they are illegal in this dystopian society created by Margaret Haddix. This law is enforced by the population police, and it’s penalty, is death.

Luke, although completely terrified of the population police, has a thirst for adventure. He wants to go out and explore the world like the people in the books he read (the books that keep him entertained while locked up in the attic. His curiosity towards the outside world leads to him looking out of a small vent that he has in his room with a view of his whole neighborhood, where he analyzes all of his neighbors. Studying their homes and lifestyles, even though he doesn’t know their names. He fills this lack of information by calling the families by the attributes they consist of. A family that does sports everyday is the Sports Family, a family with a lot of birds is the Birdbrain Family, a family with all blond hair is the Gold Family, and so on. So after weeks of familiarizing himself with his neighbors, he sees something very odd in the Sports Family’s house. A child, in a house where two others, already live…

This is a start to a great series of books. If you’re looking to be entertained for a long time, I suggest you start with Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

The Hunger Games

    The Hunger Games                 

Author: Suzanne Collins 

Reviewed by Giovanni F.

When Katniss Everdeen is chosen for the Hunger Games, she knows exactly what she’s getting into. And it’s not good.

In the post- apocalyptic ruin of North America, lies a dystopian society called Panem. Similarly to the Colosseum, and the myth of Theseus and the Labyrinth, every year a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts of Panem, are “reaped” in a ceremony, similar to a raffle, except the name drawn out is the one who goes to compete in the bloody games that are the Hunger Games. Katniss and a boy named Peeta are chosen to go. First they have to go to the Capitol, but once there, they realize that while they are poor and always hungry, the Capitol is the height of wealth and gluttony.

The Games begin, and kids start dying for the Capitol’s entertainment.

Separated from Peeta from the beginning, and fleeing from the Career Tributes, people from the wealthier districts, that are trained for the games, Katniss must use all her skills to survive the Games. Only one “tribute” as they are called, can survive and win

                                   

Katniss is quite a character, skeptical and surly on the exterior, and possessing a fierce determination, as well as an urge to take care of her family, which she sustains by hunting, even though it’s illegal.

Her determination, her hunting skills, and her desire to see her family again, are great assets to her, physically and emotionally during the Hunger Games. She will have to overcome her distrust and work with Peeta to survive.

The other protagonist is Peeta, Katniss’s partner in the Games, who is almost the opposite of her. He grew up in a baker’s home, where he always had food, and never had to worry about going hungry. He is possessed of a soft disposition, and is a dreamer, as opposed to Katniss who is a realist. Peeta has to compete in a sport with a long and bloody history, with no skills except being able to frost cakes.

The antagonist is two-fold. The most obvious one would be the Career Tributes, from Districts 1 and 2, in particular the one who appears to lead them, a barbaric boy named Cato, who swears to kill Katniss personally. The thing is, the real enemy as most of the tributes know, is the Capitol. It is them who force tributes from the Districts, they who rule the Districts with an iron fist.

                       

I found the first 50 or so pages hard to get through, as they only detailed life in District 12, and aspects of the Capitol, but I found that as I read more, the book began to draw me in, combining suspense, action, and hints of desperation at some points, which made it a page-turner. Also the author stopped the book at a suspenseful point, to make you want to read the next one.

I would really recommend this book to everyone, because it’s got a bit of everything, and once it got down to the action, it’s hard to put down, because you want to know what will happen to Katniss and Peeta, since Collins make them so easy to identify with and so likable.

Collins really made a masterpiece when she wrote this, and for anyone who is interested the saga, it continues on in Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.