Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm in Ohio and loved books from a young age. Her childhood love of books like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women inspired her to start creating her own stories.
She attended Miami University in Ohio, where she studied English language and literature. She held a number of jobs in college, nearly all of them related to writing. She also pursued a number of extracurricular activities, including choir, track, and volunteer work.
After graduating from college, Haddix pursued a career in journalism, which gave her the opportunity to write about a wide variety of topics. She also married her husband, Doug, whom she met in college. After he took a job as city editor of a newspaper in Illinois, she decided to retire from journalism, because her only option would be to continue as her husband's employee. Instead, she decided to dedicate herself to writing fiction, which had been her hobby throughout her life. She published her first book, Running Out of Time, in 1995.
Haddix has written over 30 books for children and young adults; she has won a number of awards, including the International Reading Association Children's Book Award, the National Kids Award, and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers.
Among the Hidden is a young adult novel published in 1998. The book depicts a dystopian society in the not-too-distant future in which it is illegal for families to have more than two children. Illegal third children, like Luke Gardner, must spend...
