All the reasons we could come up with for having or not having another baby seemed entirely subjective, more emotional than rational-except the possibility that the world was overpopulated, and it might be irresponsible to have more than two kids. I first started thinking about Among the Hidden when my husband and I were trying to decide whether to have a third child, or whether to stop with two. How did you get the idea for Among the Hidden? Even at 9, 10, 11 years old (maybe especially at 9, 10, 11 years old), they want everyone to be guaranteed basic human rights. I am constantly amazed at how passionate kids can become about the fate of my characters-and, when they learn of it-the fate of people on the other side of the globe. But I wouldn't write fiction if I didn't believe that it can be a powerful force for education, enlightenment and even healing. I almost felt like I should apologize for making up a story very similar to the horrible experience that he and his family had actually lived through. This boy was polite but very quiet I think we both felt strange about meeting. They were not able to tell the truth about him until they came to the United States. So when this boy was born, the family hid him, pretending that he belonged to an aunt. His older sister, the second-born, had been taken from his family in China the family was never able to learn what happened to her. He was a Chinese-American boy, the third-born in his family. Once when I was visiting a middle school in Beavercreek, Ohio, an ESL teacher asked if she could introduce me to one of her students. Also, I wanted to set up the government and the government controls in the book in my own way. ![]() But I wouldn't have felt comfortable writing about a country I'd never been to, and with a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old, I knew I couldn't take off for several months of travel and research. Usually.) When I was first thinking about Among the Hidden, I did actually consider just setting the book in China. (The elementary school kids' questions are a lot easier to answer. The questions range from horror-stricken, newly aware elementary school children telling me, as if it's news, "Did you know that in China, people are only allowed to have one kid?" to graduate students asking me about my political/environmental perspective, and what solutions I would offer to population issues. I am often asked about the connections between the Shadow Children series and the situation in China. ![]() The series as a whole has been used in classrooms across the country, and the books have been published as well in Germany, England and France. ![]() ![]() Among the Hidden has won ten state readers choice awards and has been the teen book selection in "One Book, One City" type programs in Boise, Idaho Cincinnati, Ohio the state of New Jersey and various other places. But the Shadow Children books are my most popular, and they always seem to strike a nerve. I've written about a dozen other books for kids as well, on topics ranging from Cinderella (Just Ella) to kids discovering family secrets (Running Out of Time, Double Identity, House on the Gulf, Escape from Memory, etc.). Since 1996, that one book has led to a seven-book series for kids about "Shadow Children"-third children in a society that only allows two, children who initially have to hide but who eventually band together and risk their lives to bring about change. Among the Hidden tells the story of Luke Garner, an illegal child whose entire life changes when he discovers the existence of another illegal, hidden child.
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