Among the Barons

 Language: 0 

Violence: 3 

Sexual Content: 0 

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Among the Barons
Shadow Children Series - Book Four
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Ratings Explanation

Violence: Luke Garner assumes Lee Grant’s identity.  Lee Grant’s younger brother, Smits starts a fire in his dorm room and blames his bodyguard, Oscar for attempting to kill him.  A sledgehammer weapon is found in the door room as evidence.  Lee Grant’s parents plan to stage Luke’s death.  Smits and Luke then witness Mr. and Mrs. Grant and the president’s gruesome deaths. 

Adult Themes:  Lack of food for the population of the country is an underlying theme throughout this series.  The existence of third-born children have been blamed for the people’s hunger.  Mr. and Mrs. Grant and the bodyguard, Oscar sacrifice their moral and ethical responsibilities in favor of their personal and political agendas.

Synopsis
Luke Garner has lived among the barons for the last four months under the assumed name of Lee Grant.  Luke, and illegal third child has spent the last twelve years in hiding.  While attending Hendricks School for Boys, his
Luke Garner, an illegal third child, spent his first twelve years in hiding.  For the past four months Luke has lived among others, using the identity of Lee Grant, at the Hendricks School for Boys.  But just as things are finally starting to go right, Lee’s little brother, Smits, arrives at the school and Luke finds himself caught in a tangle of lies that gets more complex with every passing day.
Can Luke trust Smits to keep his secret?  And can he trust Smits’s menacing bodyguard, Oscar?
Book four builds momentum in the Shadow Children Series.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Grades 4-5, Grades 6-7