In a world where families are allowed only two children, twelve-year-old Luke Garner is a "shadow child": a third child, illegal and unseen. He has spent his whole life hiding from the Population Police. He stays indoors, away from windows, while the woods behind his house are cleared for new homes and his secret gets harder to keep. When he spots a face in a neighbor's window, he discovers he may not be the only hidden child. He meets Jen, a bold girl who is tired of hiding and wants to fight back, and Luke has to decide what freedom is worth and how much he's willing to risk for it.

Margaret Peterson Haddix's Among the Hidden, the first book in the Shadow Children series, is a tense, fast-moving dystopian story about fear, courage, and the power of a single brave choice.