This book was the best but I suggest not reading it if you have not read the other two books Among the Hidden and Among the Imposters (read Among the hidden first then read Amnong the Imposters). In this book third children are illegal because food is getting scarce.Some parents have third child and one girl by the name Elodie has to get a fake I.D. just to go on the streets and every fake I.D. comes with a fake name so the Population Police(the people who will kill you if they find out your a third child)wont find. So Elodie gets a fake I.D. and her new name is Nina Idi.Well any the story begins with Nina in a cell because the Population Police find her. First she thinks it was all a dream but sadly it wasnt, a man walks in her cell giving her a deal. To betray kids. She figures out that the kids have some secrets and that the whole thing was a set up. I loved this book because it makes so many twists and turns. Find out how Nina excapes with the kids she rescuse.
In Among the Betrayed by Margaret Haddix, Nina is accused of telling the government that certain people were shadow children when they really werent. When Nina meets her interegator, he gives her a choice, she can die or make the other three prisoners in her cell tell her where they are from and where did they get those fake IDs. Nina doesnt know what to do. Should she squel or die? But when (conveniently)a guard is poisin and drops his keys to Ninas cell next to Ninas feet, Nina takes the keys. When Nina comes back, Matthias, Percy, and Alia (the other three prisoners) are huddled next each other sleeping. Nina wakes them up and tells them her plan. They would run as far away as they can from the prison, and when safe they would visit Luke (main character from first book). During their journey, Nina learns of her friends "streetsmarts". When they reach Luke she learns that he didnt trust her and niether did the whole school (which was full of shadow childs). Later on Nina meets with the interogator again and he tells Nina the he is Mr. Talbot father of Jen Talbot who tried to make a huge protest so the government would take away the two kids limit law. She also learns that the whole prison/runaway was all a big test to see if Nina could really be trusted. I recommend this book for people who like realistic fiction. I also recommend this book for people 7-14.
Aladin Library, 2003, 176pp., ISBN 0-440-22672-4 Among the Betrayed Margaret Peterson Haddix Everything was going pretty well at Hendricks School for Boys and at Harlow School for Girls, until a boy named Jason slips a note under the door to Harlow School for Girls. The note was an invitation to meet in the woods, right outside Hendricks, a couple times each week to discuss issues on whats going on at each of the schools. The most popular topic was the discussion about third children, who In this series of books are illegal, because the government is afraid of a food shortage. Jason is a betrayer and tricks all of them into confessing they have fake I.D. cards. This is a very dangerous for the third child and the family of the third child, if Jason tells the Population Police. The Population Police can kill you if you are an illegal child and for having a fake I.D. card. Nina is one of the kids who were betrayed and something and might happen to her and maybe even Jason. Luke might be accused too; for being a third child. To find out what happens to Luke, Nina and Jason read Among the Betrayed, a third book in the Shadow Children Series. (It is recommended that you read the first two books.)
