Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix

While it’s worth noting that the novel’s protagonist, Luke, never figures out the truth about exactly why his government instituted a two-child policy, his friend Jen shares that they instituted the policy to avoid what’s known as a Malthusian catastrophe. Known as heihaizi or “black children,” those children can’t access public services and don’t legally exist. While some parents of illegal second children placed their children for adoption, had their children taken from them, or paid the government’s fines, others simply didn’t register to get their children government ID documents. The government also forcibly sterilized people, mostly women, and mandated contraceptive use once couples had the maximum number of children allowed. The policy was enforced sporadically, though, and some people were able to apply for exceptions to have a second child. While the policy was in place from 1980 to 2015, the Chinese government levied huge fines on families who had more than one child. In the most exciting Shadow Children book yet, Margaret Peterson Haddix examines how the courage of individuals can make an impact on growing evil.China’s one-child policy is perhaps the best-known attempt to curb population growth in the name of improving a country’s economy, and it inspired Haddix to write Among the Hidden. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy? But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, he has no idea whom he can trust, and he's mourning the loss of his friends Percy and Alia. There, among his most feared enemies, Matthias encounters Nina, another illegal third-born, who enlists his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police.

By way of reward, the officer takes Matthias to the luxury of Population Police headquarters to train him to become one of their own.

Young Matthias finds himself caught in the cross fire between the Population Police and the rebels - and unwittingly ends up saving the life of a Population Police officer. The Population Police are gaining more and more power, and illegal third-borns are in increasing danger. He'd been wrong to think that everything ended when he lost Percy and Alia.I can stop this evil, he thought. He'd been wrong to send Nina away, wrong to refuse to help her, wrong to let the commander treat him like a pet. FROM AMAZON: An ache grew in his throat and he wanted to sob, but he set his jaw and held it in.

Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix