Among the Barons

My favorite book I read this year was Among the Barons. This book talks about a kid named Luke, who got an I.D. card because he was a third child. The person who he is pretending to be, has a brother and comes to visit him. He has to act like Lee Grant who he got the fake I.D. card from because he died. So Lee is part of one of the richest families in the country. Lee has a younger brother named Smits and he comes to visit him and Luke has to act like he is his brother. Smits has to be protected by a bodyguard and the bodyguard is always with him. When they need to talk the bodyguard is always there to hear. Smits is a troublemaker and is blamed for everything. There is a fire and the Grants want there sons to come home so they will be safe. Then all that happens is trouble. You have to read the book to find out what happens. My opinion is that it is one of the best books in the series. It is a book you can't put down and the ending comes as a shock. It is a very good book and is so good that it's sad when it's over. I think you should read this book.

Among the Brave is about illegal third cildren in the future. Trey is a thirteen year old thid child. When his best friends get captured by the Population Police he has to save them... the only problem is that he has no earthly clue how! Trey spent twelve years isolated in his room, and now he is going in the wide open air to get his friends back. this book is sure to keep you reading for hours on end! Among the Brave is yet another book in the Shadow Children series. Readers will not be dissapointed! Corine, age 11

Among the Barons was a truly amazing book. I couldn't stop reading it! Luke Garner is an illegal third child that lives in the future. He got a fake ID card and now is going to public school! When his supposedly younger brother comes to his school Luke gets freaked out... why would his `brother' come here anyway? At age thirteen, Luke has to figure this out while not letting it show to his friends. Among the Barons is the fourth book in the sequence about illegal third children. This book will take you on a thrilling ride you won't want to miss! Corine, age 11

Haddix has herself an incredibly compelling series that will hook anybody from the start! In this one Luke has a surprise when the brother of Lee Grant (Luke's assumed name) arrives at the school. Luke learns that Lee Grant was actually a Baron and not only that, Lee's family is one of the most influential families in the whole country. Luke's brother (Smits) acts very aristocratic, demanding special meals and treatment and he walks around the school with a bodyguard. Luke learns that Smits is not all he seems to be and behind the veil is a troubled youth, missing his real brother (Luke learns that the real Lee Grant was killed by the goverment while skiing). Things really get topsy-turvy for Luke when he is suddenly called home with Smits to the aristicratic parents of Smits and Lee. Luke who has lived in fear all his life, now must face something totally unknown. How can he pretend to be an aristocrat when he has lived in hiding as a poor person his whole life? Won't everybody know he really isn't Lee? The tension for Luke is high. Another great read by Haddix that keeps you clamoring for the next installment!

The whole time I was reading this book I was on the edge of my seat! It is so fantastic! It was suspenseful, trickey, humorus, and a good book in all. I didn't think that it was going to turn out the way it did, but it did. It was so crazy. And the charecters were no help. Usually I can tell who did it, but this time I didn't have a clue. And when I did guess who it was, I was wrong!