Luke is growing up in a community where it is against the law for parents to have more than two children. He is the third child so he is forced to live in the attic of his parent’s house. He is to keep hidden at all times and not be discovered. He has known this from when he was a very small child. It wasn’t too bad at home when there was a dense woods by his house. He could play out there and no one would know he was there. When the government decided to take over those woods to build more houses, Luke’s freedom ended. He was told to stay inside the house and to stay away from windows. His parents wanted to leave the curtains open during the day so that they wouldn’t draw any suspicion from anyone. This made it very hard for Luke to do much of anything. He had to stay upstairs. He even had to eat his meals on the bottom step. He quickly realized he would never go to school. He would never be able to do the things his brothers did and often complained about. He started to wonder if there were any other kids out there like him.
This book was very good and the start to a really good series. It is a good series for reluctant readers. There is intrigue, suspense and mystery throughout. Great for elementary students. These books are not too long and chapters are short. The story is interesting enough to keep them reading.