Among the Hidden

We do not do a lot of projects with the novels that we read in FAME. However, students often want to talk about what they are reading. Among the Hidden is one of the first books we read in Adventures and students really get hooked into it. One of the very first questions they ask is "Is this real?" or "Could this happen?" When those questions come up, I never answer them directly but instead get the students talking. Throughout the book, I try to get them to make connections to this book. Some connections that could be made:

• the internet made communication possible for third children
• governmental power
• economic standings (Luke's family vs. Jen's family)
• The last time Luke saw Jen, he told her, "It's people like you who change history. People like me – we just let things happen to us." What does this mean? Are you a person who makes things happen or are you a person who watches things happen?

"What if" questions work very well for this book. We also talk about China and how the country connects to this book. Inevitably someone brings that up! If we had the opportunity to work more with the book, I would have students learn about the restrictions placed upon Chinese people.