Among the Barons

Rating:
Summary: More from the Shadow Children
Review: "Among the Barons" is a fairly intriguing novel. Although it contained Margaret Peterson Haddix's trademark suspense and sharp plot twists, it did not seem as impressive as its predecessors, and, to be honest, it really only deserved three and a half stars.
"Barons" begins directly after "Among the Betrayed". There were only a few references in the book to Nina and other characters from the latter, and only one appearance from said characters.
...Perhaps it was the fact that very few of the loose ends were tied up in the finale, or that the book lacked a strong central plot. ...
I also think that these books would sell better as teen novels, as I sometimes think that the peril and complexity of the moral questions would be better suited for a young adult audience, than that of the 9-12 age group.
Other than those flaws, "Among the Barons" is a rousing sequel that I would recommend to a fan of the Shadow Children sequence.

Rating:
Summary: Among the Barons
Review: Among the Barons
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Reviewed by: J. Fujii
Period: 5

Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the fourth book in the series of shadow books. The book is about a third child named Luke Gardner who gets a fake i.d. to become Lee Grant. Luke attends Hendricks School for Boys. After six months, Lee's real brother, Smits, goes to Luke's school. Smits arrives at Hendricks in a limo and he has a bodyguard named Oscar. Luke shows his "brother" Smits around Hendricks. Smits acts like the schoool which is a special school for the barons class isn't fancy. Smits tries to get Oscar fired because Smits doesn't want a bodyguard. Smits starts a fire in Hendricks and blames Oscar. After the fire, Luke finds two fake i.d. cards. They cause him to wonder who they belong to. In the meantime, Smits, Luke and Oscar go home to the Grants' house because the Grants say that want to watch over their children. Luke meets Mr. and Mrs. Grant and goes to Lee's room which is clean and very organized. Around midnight, the Grants talk to Luke about staging his death as Lee because the Grants are being blackmailed for Lee's illegal activities. On that same night, Oscar wakes up Luke and tells him about a secret resistance force that is fighting against the Barons. The Grants die when a huge chandelier falls on them. Luke then takes Smits home to his own family and Smits begins to live with Luke's family.
I enjoyed this book because I like science fiction. I also liked this book because it had some humor. A humorous line is when a boy said, "The new boy brought 4 suitcases, his own computer and a giant TV."
I also liked this book because it keeps you reading. For instance, when Oscar says, "Watch out for the chandelier," it made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen with the chandelier. The author made me want to read on and it was surprising to find out what happens next to Luke.
My favorite part of the story was when Smits comes to Hendricks. I liked this part because Smits was a man in a boys' body because he acted like a businessman. It was also my favorite part because of all the rumors being spread about Smits such as his reported gourmet meals being sent in from a restaurant in a city 1 hour away from the school.

Rating:
Summary: Among the Barons
Review: Among the Barons
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Reviewed by: J. Fujii
Period: 5

Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the fourth book in the series of shadow books. The book is about a third child named Luke Gardner who gets a fake i.d. to become Lee Grant. Luke attends Hendricks School for Boys. After six months, Lee's real brother, Smits, goes to Luke's school. Smits arrives at Hendricks in a limo and he has a bodyguard named Oscar. Luke shows his "brother" Smits around Hendricks. Smits acts like the schoool which is a special school for the barons class isn't fancy. Smits tries to get Oscar fired because Smits doesn't want a bodyguard. Smits starts a fire in Hendricks and blames Oscar. After the fire, Luke finds two fake i.d. cards. They cause him to wonder who they belong to. In the meantime, Smits, Luke and Oscar go home to the Grants' house because the Grants say that want to watch over their children. Luke meets Mr. and Mrs. Grant and goes to Lee's room which is clean and very organized. Around midnight, the Grants talk to Luke about staging his death as Lee because the Grants are being blackmailed for Lee's illegal activities. On that same night, Oscar wakes up Luke and tells him about a secret resistance force that is fighting against the Barons. The Grants die when a huge chandelier falls on them. Luke then takes Smits home to his own family and Smits begins to live with Luke's family.
I enjoyed this book because I like science fiction. I also liked this book because it had some humor. A humorous line is when a boy said, "The new boy brought 4 suitcases, his own computer and a giant TV."
I also liked this book because it keeps you reading. For instance, when Oscar says, "Watch out for the chandelier," it made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen with the chandelier. The author made me want to read on and it was surprising to find out what happens next to Luke.
My favorite part of the story was when Smits comes to Hendricks. I liked this part because Smits was a man in a boys' body because he acted like a businessman. It was also my favorite part because of all the rumors being spread about Smits such as his reported gourmet meals being sent in from a restaurant in a city 1 hour away from the school.

Rating:
Summary: Among the Barons
Review: Among the Barons didn't disappoint me. It was one of the best in the Shadow Children series. It was so much more suspenseful and especially the ending was gripping. There was more danger and action. I didn't like Smits though, he was too whiny. The barons make me angry because people are starving and they just throw their extra food away! Most of the book was really good though! I really liked it and I plan to read the other books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Sure Story to make your mind ponder!
Review: Among the Barons is the fourth book in the series of Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters, and Among the Betrayed. This book is about an illegal third child named Luke. Luke takes the idenity of a boy named Lee, who had recently passed away.Posing as a different person, Luke must deal with a new family that has many issues.Luke faces many unexpected obstacles throughout the book, and goes through daring attempts to keep his true idenity unknown.
I really liked this book, for it was filled with excitement and anticipation of what would happen next. New twists were thrown throughout the story to keep your attention at all times.
Though i throughly enjoyed this story, I was disappointed how it ended. The previous books of this series had a well ended story, answering all questions possible in the readers mind. Among the Barons, however, felt like a cliff-hanger to me. There were a lot of questions left pondering in my mind as to what would happen next to the characters. Despite the ending, anyone who loves mysterious and adventuresome, will love Among the Barons!

Rating:
Summary: Sure Story to make your mind ponder!
Review: Among the Barons is the fourth book in the series of Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters, and Among the Betrayed. This book is about an illegal third child named Luke. Luke takes the idenity of a boy named Lee, who had recently passed away.Posing as a different person, Luke must deal with a new family that has many issues.Luke faces many unexpected obstacles throughout the book, and goes through daring attempts to keep his true idenity unknown.
I really liked this book, for it was filled with excitement and anticipation of what would happen next. New twists were thrown throughout the story to keep your attention at all times.
Though i throughly enjoyed this story, I was disappointed how it ended. The previous books of this series had a well ended story, answering all questions possible in the readers mind. Among the Barons, however, felt like a cliff-hanger to me. There were a lot of questions left pondering in my mind as to what would happen next to the characters. Despite the ending, anyone who loves mysterious and adventuresome, will love Among the Barons!

Rating:
Summary: Shadow Children Saga Continues
Review: Among the Barons is the fourth book in the story of the Shadow Children. It is set during a period in which only two children are allowed in each family. Luke is a third child. He eventually has to sneak away from his home and go to a school where there are other third children. He survives his time there and now has to be Among the Barons. The Barons are the ones who made the law about only having two children. He is now living in the home of a Baron. The family has many problems and Luke doesn't know who to trust. During all of the obstacles he has to face during this time, he also has to always remember to keep his real identity a secret. The book keeps you wondering what will happen next.
Overall, I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, especially the first one, Among the Hidden. Among the Barons definitely kept you guessing as to what was going to happen to Luke and the Baron family, However, the ending was a disappointment. There are a lot of unanswered questions about Luke. It didn't feel as if the story was concluded. The central plot was not strong. I sometimes wondered how the story went from one scene to the next. I thought that the story needed to refer to back to Nina and the Population Police more, because that was the story line that started the whole series.
Overall, the book deserves three stars. I would recommend it to others who have started reading the series because there is a lot of excitement and suspense.

Rating:
Summary: My Review on 1 of the greatest books ever!!!
Review: Haddix has herself an incredibly compelling series that will hook anybody from the start! In this one Luke has a surprise when the brother of Lee Grant (Luke's assumed name) arrives at the school. Luke learns that Lee Grant was actually a Baron and not only that, Lee's family is one of the most influential families in the whole country.

Luke's brother (Smits) acts very aristocratic, demanding special meals and treatment and he walks around the school with a bodyguard. Luke learns that Smits is not all he seems to be and behind the veil is a troubled youth, missing his real brother (Luke learns that the real Lee Grant was killed by the goverment while skiing). Things really get topsy-turvy for Luke when he is suddenly called home with Smits to the aristicratic parents of Smits and Lee. Luke who has lived in fear all his life, now must face something totally unknown. How can he pretend to be an aristocrat when he has lived in hiding as a poor person his whole life? Won't everybody know he really isn't Lee? The tension for Luke is high.

Another great read by Haddix that keeps you clamoring for the next installment!

Rating:
Summary: awsome book it was great
Review: i thought this book was awsome my teacher mrs.Estes let me read it shes my favorite teacher if you wanna no if margeret is going to come out with another book she is it will be called among the brave.

Rating:
Summary: Very involved!
Review: I've been religiously keeping up with Margaret Haddix's Shadow Children series ever since I picked up Among the Hidden in the library about three years ago.

The series has been getting more involved and intricate, and Among the Barons is easily *the* most intricate of the current set of four.

In the other three novels Luke's (or Nina's, in the third book) problems are pretty straightforward by comparison - their actions revolve around achieving specific goals that don't involve too much political intrigue, which, I find, always introduces more complexity in novels because other characters' motivations and thoughts become equally important as the main character's, and not just of secondary importance; an example of this is the contrast between Mr. Talbot's interactions with Luke (and Luke occasionally questions his faith in Mr. Talbot) and Oscar's interactions with Luke (where Luke's decisions start to affect other people).

So, in Among the Barons, Luke has to deal with problems of greater difficulty - there's some people who show up who really don't care much about Luke and would as soon see him gone in one way or another.

The book also fleshes out some of the chronology and politics that make up the back story of the Shadow Children series; it introduces the first organized rebel movement as well as actual Barons besides just Mr. Talbot, and the Barons often act self-centered and arrogant, which is a change from the humanistic Mr. Talbot.

Interestingly, Luke continues to follow a kind of "middle path"; he never wholly commits himself one way or another, and this adds a great deal of depth to Luke's character, and makes him more real. For example, he chooses a different way to achieve Jen's goal; one that suits his naturally cautious nature - instead of vocally organizing protest rallies and attracting the attention of the Government (which is ready to shoot first and ask questions later if the wrong people are crossed), he chooses to hide in plain sight, adopting the identity of a Baron. Later, when asked to move on from Hendricks, Luke decides he wants to improve his education and understanding before accepting Mr. Talbot's offer. And finally, in Among the Barons (can't spoil too much of the plot here), he does not wholly take sides with the rebel movement, but finds himself drawn into confusion over whose methods will accomplish the goal - Mr. Talbot's of working from within, or Oscar's of fighting from without? The book doesn't leave this clear-cut (although Luke's faith in Mr. Talbot's method isn't shaken), and I suspect the next book will probably show Luke's further evolution in this matter.

It's easy to imagine another person in the Shadow Children universe being a die-hard member of a nonviolent populist movement aiming to bring about political change, but this would reduce that person to a fairly flat character since the ideology puts constraints on what actions and thoughts are believable for the character.

Incidentally, Jen Talbot, had she lived, could well have been on her way to being such a leader; burning with desire to right wrongs, but not given to violence in her makeup, she could well have founded or risen to the top of such a populist movement in the Shadow Children universe.

Good book! I look forward to the upcoming books in this series. (The 4 stars rather than 5 is because of some minor nitpicks about the degree to which Smits gets his way in the school.)