Among the Enemy

Margaret Peterson Haddix

May 2010 · Shadow Children Book 6 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

An child finds himself enlisted by the Population Police in the sixth instalment of the acclaimed middle-grade dystopian thriller series.

After the Niedler School is raided, Matthias, Percy, and Alia are taken prisoner by the Population Police. But when Matthias makes a daring escape on the way to a work camp, he is caught in the crossfire between the authorities and the rebels. In the process, he unwittingly saves a Population Police officer—and is brought to their headquarters to train as an officer himself.

There Matthias meets Nina, another third-born who needs his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police. But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, and he has no idea whom he can trust. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy?

Ratings and reviews

This book provided interesting moral dilemmas. The book starts very strong with Matthias making the choice to harm other children to save his two closest friends. He doubts himself and faces tragedy, but learns to carry on. I like how the perspective of the population police is touched upon, but they were made too comically evil to go anywhere with that. I also felt that Matthias pretending to be sad about Tiddy was used too much in the story. It was an interesting and eventful read that progressed the story where Trey had left off. I'm hoping this leads to a strong finale.

This was the first I read of the sires for a book report.When I normally to book reports I find out the book isn't half bad. This was NOT the case. This book had little action in its long middle, being more towards the beginning and end. It was boring watching him do the same thing, grieving and doing nothing. I dreaded reading this book every time. I do not recommend.

First Nina, then Tray, now Matthias. And I thought Luke/Lee was the hero of the books. THIS is a good book, but I think that Percy can be just as grown up as Matthias.The confusion over whos dead and whos alive was kind of funny. I like Matthias, He wants to help everyone, save everyone, weather PoPo or not. He's the only know who remembered the guard who was left in the building. Matthias went back into that building for a man he didn't even know. He under stands, that people can work for the Enemy and not be evil. And I respect that.

About the author

Margaret Peterson Haddix is the author of many critically and popularly acclaimed YA and middle grade novels, including the Children of Exile series, The Missing series, the Under Their Skin series, and the Shadow Children series. A graduate of Miami University (of Ohio), she worked for several years as a reporter for The Indianapolis News. She also taught at the Danville (Illinois) Area Community College. She lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio. Visit her at HaddixBooks.com.