Among the Betrayed (Shadow Children #3)

Billed as a companion to Among the Hidden (1998), this addition to Haddix's burgeoning series about an Orwellian future in which third children are hunted down and killed follows the moral dilemma of a peripheral character from Among the Impostors (2001). The Population Police has captured Nina because of her involvement with a supposed plot to expose third children. An undercover third child herself, she is offered a deal: confirm the illegality of three other suspected third children imprisoned along with her, and she will go free. As she gets to know these children and sorts through her own sense of betrayal at the hands of her former boyfriend, she must choose between saving them and betraying them. There are no real surprises here; readers familiar with the previous novels will recognize the patterns of duplicity, and Nina's own eventual moral decision is never truly in doubt. This text's strength, in common with its predecessors', is its ability to imagine the bizarre and surreal experiences of its protagonists. Nina has been confined and hidden since birth; this is borne in on the reader with telling details: " 'The sun rises?' Nina asked. She'd never thought about how it got up into the sky. In pictures and on TV it was just there, overhead." But by the third time around, there is a certain sameness to the revelations of the end, in which it is revealed that Nina's ordeal has been an elaborate plot to test her fitness for membership in a resistance to the government's restrictions on third children. Along with Nina and Luke (who makes a cameo appearance from the other titles), the reader may be justified in asking, just how much longer before the Revolution? (Fiction. 9-14)

Copyright 2002 Kirkus Review, LLC Used with permission.

This series about a society where family size is legally limited continues with the story of Nina, who, betrayed by her boyfriend, is arrested by the Population Police. Now she herself must either betray the three young siblings who share her prison cell or face death. The grim plot comes to a surprise conclusion, suggesting future empowerment for the characters and leaving readers eager for the next installment.

Copyright 2002 Hornbook Guide, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 5-9-Haddix continues her science fiction dystopian tale about illegal third children in this sequel to Among the Hidden (1998) and Among the Imposters (2001, both S & S). Nina is imprisoned by the Population Police for being an illegal child. She is given the opportunity to save herself by spying on the other three children who are in the jail cell with her. Nina finds herself both drawn to them and fearful for her own life. When she has a chance to escape, she decides to take them with her and is surprised at their survival skills as they fend for themselves in the wild. Then, Nina is captured again. This time, though, she has an even harder decision to make-will she put her life in danger in order to save her friends? In a surprising ending, Nina finds that the children she rescued and the man from the Population Police who arrests her the second time are part of a group dedicated to saving third children like herself. While the book could stand alone, it is much more interesting and meaningful when read after the two previous volumes. As a character, Nina is well drawn and believable but it is the agonizing moral decisions that she must make that elevate the book beyond the average tale. Haddix is a superb storyteller and her view of a future world short of food that allows only two children per family is both scary and plausible.-Janet Hilbun, formerly at Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In the third installment of Haddix's series about a futuristic society in which families are forbidden to have more than two children, Nina, a secondary character in Among the Impostors, is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned by the Population Police. Her interrogator gives her an ultimatum: either she can get three other child prisoners, illegal third-borns like Nina, to reveal who harbored them and where they got their fake identification cards, or she will be executed. Nina sees a chance to escape the prison (which seems rather convenient at the time) and, taking the prisoners with her, quickly discovers their street smarts. But when their food supply runs out, Nina seeks the boy she knew as Lee (the series' original protagonist). Haddix expertly describes the impact of Nina's upbringing in hiding (she doesn't know how to swim; the sound of students laughing loudly reminds her of the first time she overheard children playing outside and could not join them). As with the last book, there are dense revelations at the end (including an explanation of Nina's ease in escaping prison), and some of them may test readers' willingness to suspend disbelief. Even so, the author delivers more than enough suspense to keep fans hooked and to intrigue new recruits as well. Ages 9-14. (June)

Copyright 2002 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.