9/4/2023 0 Comments Haddix among the hidden movieLuke snaps at his brother to leave him alone. Mark asks Luke if he’d like to play checkers, and Luke immediately asks if their mother told him to do this. Mark immediately goes back to teasing Luke about playing with “baby” toys, referencing the train. In a rare moment of seriousness, Mark reminds Luke that neither he, nor Matthew, nor their parents have ever told anyone about Luke, so he’s safe. Luke lives in an attic, which he doesn’t mind except for the fact that it has no windows. Luke wonders again what would happen if the real Population Police found him. There’s a loud knock on Luke’s door and a cry of “Population Police!” However, it’s only Luke’s brother, Mark. He hasn’t been outside for a week, and he is now not even allowed in a room with an uncovered window - his father yelled at him the last time he did that. Luke accepted this strange and difficult situation, but when his parents sold the woods - which meant he couldn’t go outside anymore - the situation became much more difficult. When the Law not only remained but alo became more stringently enforced, she and the rest of the family realized that they needed to keep Luke in hiding. When he asks his mother, she explains that she kept her pregnancy a secret and gave birth to him because she thought the Population Law would quickly be repealed. Luke had never gone further than his yard, knew no one other than his immediate family, and had never made a friend. Luke had hoped that all small children needed to hide, and that when he was as a big as his two older brothers he wouldn’t need to hide anymore. He learns that there is a law stating that families can only have two children, and because he is a third child, his existence must remain a secret. When Luke was six years old, he had asked his mother why he had to hide. Luke rushes to hide and his mother clears away his table and chair before opening the door to a visiting salesman. The argument is interrupted by the sound of wheels on the gravel driveway. Luke’s brother Mark complains that this means Luke won’t be able to do his share of the outside household chores. Luke is not sure what will happen to him if anyone outside of the family learns of his existence, but he doesn’t want to find out. His father tells him that he should be staying away from the windows already. The Government will probably build houses on this plot of land, so Luke asks if this means he should stay away from the windows. Raising Luke was the family’s only act of defiance. Luke’s father explains that the Government wanted the woods, and the family had no choice but to sell them. Luke hesitates because he may never be allowed outside again.Īt dinner last night, Luke asks his parents why they sold the woods. This book is definitely thought-provoking and provides a excellent opportunity for discussion on population control and the extent of a government's involvement in it's citizen's lives.Luke is watching a tree fall in the distance when he hears his mother call him to come inside. In the end both Jen and Luke's decisions have far reaching impact and change their family and their lives forever. When Luke finally realizes that Jen plans to have the protest and risk her life and the lives of several other shadow children, he is forced to make a decison. Luke is excited to meet Jen, but intially disbelives that Jen will actually follow-thru. Jen is excited to meet Luke, and shows him a network she has developed to communicate with other shadow children, and organize a protest against the population law. Eventually Luke takes a chance a discovers another shadow child, Jennifer Talbot. When a housing development is built behind his property, Luke loses the last freedom that he has, as he is forced to stay in his house or risk discovery.Ī few weeks after the development is built Luke sees, somebody else inside one of the houses, and all the neighbors are gone. He and his family live in fear every day of someone finding him. Only two children are allowed per couple, any other children are counted as illegal, or shadow children.ġ2-year Luke is a shadow child, he has lived his entire life on his family's farm hidden from the neighbors and the population police. After a worldwide famine, a population law is enacted in America.
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