Shadow Children 05 – Among the Brave

Margaret Peterson Haddix's Among the Brave is a tense Shadow Children story for 9 year olds about a boy who's completely sure he's a coward.

What happens

Trey is thirteen. He's an illegal third child in a country where families are only allowed two, so he spent his whole childhood hiding in a single room. Being outdoors terrifies him. He'd much rather be translating Latin.

The night before the book opens, he did one brave thing. He knocked his friend Lee out of the way of falling glass and saved his life. Now everyone seems to expect him to take charge (which he thinks is deeply unfair).

So he walks up to the door of Mr. Talbot, the one grown-up who's meant to fix everything. The door gets slammed in his face. Minutes later Mr. Talbot is driven off in handcuffs, the car with Trey's friends in it slides away, and men in black uniforms swarm the garden while Trey crouches behind a flowerpot.

Then a freckled boy in uniform finds him, says one Latin word and tells the others the porch is clear. Who is he? Trey has no idea.

Things only get bigger from there. The head of the Population Police takes over the whole country, and later Trey learns that his friend Luke is a prisoner at their headquarters.

It's the fifth Shadow Children book, and it helps to have met these children before. Friends and events from earlier books come up in passing, and the story doesn't stop to explain much.

Reading it is like being stuck inside Trey's very anxious head. He panics over a paper cut. He quizzes himself with multiple-choice questions about who he hates most. He's funny about his own fear, and that makes it easier to be scared alongside him.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This is a dark series. Trey has just watched two people killed at a party, and his mum walked out on him after his dad died. The new leader hates children like Trey and wants them found. That's a lot for a sensitive reader. If your child already loves stories where kids try to outwit a cruel government, though, it's gripping.

What to read next

If they're after another jumpy, unlikely hero doing brave things in dangerous times, try The Bicycle Spy. Marcel is small, wears glasses and gets teased, and in occupied France he works out that he's been carrying secret messages without knowing it.