Conflict

               The conflict of this book is that lots of people around the country have three children, when the law states only 2 or less children are allowed per family. So, all of the third children have to spend a majority of their life hiding away from the society until they either get a fake I.D. or the law changes. Luke, one of the main characters, had to spend his whole entire life hiding away in his attic until he changed his whole life when he met another shadow child. Now, the other shadow child has to form a protest with other shadow children.


Protagonist Motivation
 

                There are 2 main protagonists in this story. They are Luke and Jen. Their protagonist motivation for both of them is to be able to go out in public and live like a regular human being. The law stifles third children to do that though, and also to even live, so Jen wants to form a whole rally to protest against the government. They both really want to be released from their prison lives. They would do anything to do it. Jen even formed a secret chat room for all the shadow children they can contact. That's how she formed the rally. For Luke, he wants to be with Jen so he can be accompanied by someone in his life other than his two brothers and his mom and dad. Luke also really wants to be a free human being like Jen.



Antagonist Motivation

               There are also 2 antagonists. The population police and the government. The government formed the law that made every family restricted to two or less children. The governments motivation to do this was because they thought, for some odd reason, that they would run out of food for all the people in the world if there were to many people, which tons of people thought was nonsense. The population police are there to reinforce that population law and make sure there were only 2 children per family. Oddly, they respect the law of only having 2 children per family. Therefore, they want to enforce the law. 


Climax

              The climax of this story was actually pretty intense, in our opinion. The climax of this story was when Luke, the main character, started to hide in his attic due to his parents orders. He found vents showing the back and front views of the house. So, he stacked up luggage to see the back vent. He kept looking out that vent everyday to watch the neighborhood. Then, one day out of no where, he sees a face in one of the windows of a Barons (a rich family) house. Luke planned out a plan to go over to the house and meet the other shadow child. So, when Luke earned the nerve, he slipped through his yard and into the shadow child's house. He set off an alarm! It was all okay though, because when he told the girl he was a third child she fixed the alarm so the security guards wouldn't go to the house and discover them.



Outcome

             As all books, the outcome of this book was a happy ending. After all that hiding and adventures in Jen's house, Luke finally received a fake I.D. from Jen's dad. When the population police showed up at Jen's house while her dad and Luke were there, Jen's dad hid Luke in the closet and bribed the police with a real fur jacket so they would get out of the closet quicker and not notice Luke under the blankets. Then the police put a electronic device on Jen's dad to hear any words he says. So, Jen's dad had to write out words to Luke and Luke had to write back. That's when Jen's dad offered the fake I.D. to Luke. A few days later, Jen's dad picked up Luke and drove him to his new fake family. Now he was supposedly Lee Grant. The family in now helping Luke appear as a their child when Lee Grant actually died in a skiing accident. Now, Luke will be able to go to school and do lots of other things like a normal child.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1

          Luke was able to go out into the yard because his family lived in the woods. Then, the government wanted to cut the woods down to build a town. Now, his parents are becoming very strict about going outside because while the workers are cutting the trees, they might see him. So now he is being forced to stay indoors for all he knows right now. Luke's about to experience the life of a shadow child.

Chapter 11-15

          Luke found vents in his attic that showed the front and back of the house. Then one day, he was looking out the window that viewed the back, and he thought he saw another child when he made sure every one in the family left. So, he waited for more proof of the child. He witnessed a lot of proof of the other third child, so he started to plan out a visit to the house and to meet the girl. A few days later, he got some guts and went with his plan. He crawled through his yard and made it to the screen door. He tried to open the door but it was locked! So he punched through the screen and started to bleed. That didn't stop him though. He made it into the huge house. Then, he heard the computer and looked around the corner of the wall and saw the girl! When she spotted him, she tackled him and asked who he was. Once Luke told her he was another shadow child, she backed off a little. She accepted it, and then finally remembered her families alarm system. She cancelled it before the security guards showed up and discovered them. That's how Luke and Jen met.

Chapter 29-30

        After the population police searched the house of Jen's dad and came up empty, Jen's dad offered Luke a fake I.D. Luke took a little while to decide, but at the end he took the offer for the fake I.D. So, a few days after the decision, Jen's dad came to pick up Luke. Luke said his good-byes to his mom, dad, and two brothers, gave them all hugs, and set off with Jen's dad to go to Luke's new fake family. Once he gets to the new family and they send all the records in for him as Lee Grant, the real son that died in a skiing accident, Luke will be able to act as a normal child like his brothers as he wished he could do.