Dear Classmates,
I have recently been reading the book Among The Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Among The Hidden was a very interesting book about a “Utopia”. I would rate this book a nine point five out of a ten. I would rate it that, because I was captivated and enjoyed reading it. I liked Among The Hidden a lot and I am glad that Ms. Monaco recommended it to me.
In the book Among The Hidden there government reminds me a lot of the government in the book The Hunger Games and even the Holocaust. It reminded me of them, because you could not say no to the government. If you did say no to the government they could kill you. These governments were also very demanding telling you how to live your life, and I would not want to live in a community like that.
I can make many connections to the book Among The Hidden and the book The Giver. For example these families can only have two children. They can only have two children in both of the books, because they said many people were starving to death from an over populated world. Also in both of the books the government tries to create a “Utopia”. After reading these two books I learned that you can’t have a Flawless community, because people are all different and we each have our own ideas of what a perfect community is. Both of these books were very good and they made me think about my life.
Among The Hidden’s community tried to make a “Utopia”. To do that they had to weigh things out. Whenever I read about some rule, or law I thought about if it was better or worse that way. By doing this I came to the conclusion that I love the world the way that it is, and I do not think that the world needs to change that much. Yes, we do need to figure out a way to distribute food so people do not go hungry. But no we don’t have to make it so each family only has two children in a house. I think that the government very badly weighed the pros’ and con’s to make their own utopia.
I was inspired by this quote. “It’s people like you who make history. People like me – we just let things happen to us.”
I was influenced by this passage because it made me think that if I want something to be changed then I need to change it, and not just wait for it to happen. I need to put forth effort and make a difference in my life, and in others lives. This quote also reminded me of the movie The Blind Side because that movie really inspired me in the same way. I find this quote very meaningful. I think that if people want change, they need to not wait for others to make it happen. People who really want and believe in something need to make history.
I can really connect to Luke in the book Among The Hidden. I can connect to him at the point when Luke says that Jen’s dad is lying about Jen being dead. Luke doesn’t want to believe one of the hardest things in the world to believe. That happened to me when I was told about my Dad. I didn’t and couldn’t believe that that could happen. I can tell that Luke doesn’t want to believe either. Margaret Peterson Haddix made it very easy to connect with Luke. Even though my only friend did not die, but my Dad has. She knew the first thoughts that went through Luke’s head had to be that Jen’s Father was lying. Because do to my experience thoughts were the first thoughts that have been through my head. Margaret Peterson Haddix did a great job of making it so the reader could easily share feelings with Luke, even if the reader hasn’t been through quite the same experience.
Margaret Peterson Haddix also wrote an amazing climax in the book. She had Jens dad be working for the population police even tough he had a third child. I seriously wrote on my sticky note O.M.G.!!!!!!!!! She totally changed gears on the story. I wanted to keep reading to find our what would happen next. I think that is a very god writing technique and I am going to try to use that technique the next time that I write a story.
Among The Hidden was absolutely an amazing book. I cannot wait to read the next book in the shadow children series, to find more out about what happens to Luke and his new life. I am so glad that Ms. Monaco recommended it this book to me. It is one of the most intense books I have read.
Sincerely,
Kendall Hays
