Most Popular Books by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Allowing herself to be hypnotized, fifteen-year-old Kira reveals memories of another time and place that may eventually cost her and her mother their lives.

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he''s never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who''s also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They''re coming back to get you." Jonah, Chip, and Jonah''s sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip''s lives. Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying? With Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix begins a new series that promises to be every bit as suspenseful as her Shadow Children series -- which has sold more than 41/2 million copies -- and proves her, once again, to be a master of the page-turner.

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, an illegal third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family''s farm in this start to the Shadow Children series from Margaret Peterson Haddix. Luke has never been to school. He''s never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend''s house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He''s lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family''s farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl''s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he''s met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows—does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

Determined not to lose their friends, Jonah and his sister, Katherine, grab Chip''s arms just as he''s being sent away

When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1996 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it''s up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

Jonah, thirteen, and Katherine, eleven, travel through time to 1918 Russia just as Alexei, Anastasia, and the rest of Tsar Nicholas II''s family is about to be executed. Author''s note includes facts about the Romanov''s and the mystery surrounding their deaths.

After helping Chip and Alex survive 15th-century London, Jonah and Katherine are summoned to help another missing child, Andrea, face her fate. Andrea is really Virginia Dare, from the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jonah and Katherine are confident in their ability to help Andrea fix history, but when their journey goes dangerously awry, they realize that they may be in over their heads: They’ve landed in the wrong time period. Andrea doesn’t seem that interested in leaving the past. And even worse, it appears that someone has deliberately sabotaged their mission....

Return to the world of The Missing with this e-only short story! Thirteen-year-old Daniella McCarthy begins receiving a series of unusual phone calls right before her family moves from Michigan to Ohio. How is it that total strangers seem to know more about her background than she does? And could it be possible that these strangers also know something about her future?

HIDE OR FIGHT? Matthias, an illegal third child, is caught in the cross fire between rebels and the Population Police. When he unwittingly saves a Population Police officer, Matthias is brought to Population Police headquarters to train as an officer himself. There he meets Nina, another third-born who enlists his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police. But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, and he has no idea whom he can trust. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy?

Return to the world of The Missing with an original e-short story! Katherine and Jonah have just saved the Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Maria, as well as their brother the tsarevitch Alexei Romanov. Although the Romanovs are devastated that they lost the rest of their family, they are happy that they still have each other and are safe. But they weren''t the only ones saved: Leonid, Alexei’s faithful servant and friend, was also whisked away to the time hollow. Will he be able to accept his fate?

After a mysterious appearance by Charles Lindbergh, it’s up to Jonah to save his town in the seventh book of the New York Times bestselling The Missing series, which Kirkus Reviews calls “plenty of fun and great for history teachers as well.” It’s morning as usual at the Skidmore household—until Charles Lindbergh, the famous historical pilot, appears in their living room. Jonah can hardly believe his eyes—and then Lindbergh grabs Katherine and vanishes again. And that’s not all. Chip, Andrea, and all the other children from the plane have disappeared too. And worst of all, Jonah’s parents and all the other adults in his town have de-aged into children. Jonah is the only one left, and the only one who can save everyone. With the help of de-aged JB and Angela, he has to collect the clues. And they lead directly back to Gary and Hodge, and a terrible plot that could mean the end of everything Jonah has ever loved. Can Jonah put the pieces together before time runs out?

Publisher Description

Danger continues to loom over Luke now that he''s out of hiding in the second book in bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix''s Shadow Children series. Luke Garner is an illegal third child. All his life has been spent in hiding. Now, for the first time, Luke is living among others. He has assumed a deceased boy''s identity and is attending Hendricks School for Boys, a windowless building with cruel classmates and oblivious teachers. Luke knows he has to blend in, but he lives in constant fear that his behavior will betray him. Then one day Luke discovers a door to the outside. He knows that beyond the walls of Hendricks lie the secrets he is desperate to uncover. What he doesn''t know is whom he can trust -- and where the answers to his questions may lead him...

In the third installment of Haddix''s series about a futuristic society in which families are forbidden to have more than two children, Nina, a secondary character in Among the Impostors, is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned by the Population Police. Her interrogator gives her an ultimatum: either she can get three other child prisoners, illegal third-borns like Nina, to reveal who harbored them and where they got their fake identification cards, or she will be executed. Nina sees a chance to escape the prison and, taking the prisoners with her, quickly discovers their street smarts. But when their food supply runs out, Nina seeks the boy she knew as Lee.

When Jonah and Katherine travel to early 1900s Switzerland and Serbia to return Albert Einstein''s daughter, Lieserl, to history, her mother Mileva grasps entirely too much about time travel and has no intention of letting her daughter go.

After joining her new friends in the religious group called Fishers of Men, Dorry finds herself immersed in a cult from which she must struggle to extricate herself.

So my only protection is a kindergarten teacher and a ninety-eight-pound female minister....And they don''t even believe I''m in danger. As Bethany approaches her thirteenth birthday, her parents begin acting more oddly than usual: Her mother cries constantly, and her father barely lets Bethany out of his sight. Then one morning he hustles the entire family into the car, drives across several state lines -- and leaves Bethany with an aunt she never knew existed. Bethany has no idea what''s going on. She''s worried that her mom and dad are running from some kind of trouble, but she can''t find out because they won''t tell her where they are going. Bethany''s only clue is a few words she overheard her father tell her aunt Myrlie: "She doesn''t know anything about Elizabeth." But Aunt Myrlie won''t tell Bethany who Elizabeth is, and she won''t explain why people in her small town react to Bethany as if they''ve seen a ghost. The mystery intensifies when Bethany gets a package from her father containing four different birth certificates from four states, with four different last names -- and thousands of dollars in cash. And when a strange man shows up asking questions, Bethany realizes she''s not the only one who''s desperate to unravel the secrets of her past. In this exhilarating thriller, Margaret Peterson Haddix crafts a taut story so full of twists and turns, readers will be gripped until the startling conclusion.

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he''s never thought it was a big deal. Then he and a neighbor, Chip, who finds out he''s also adopted, begin receiving mysterious letters, saying things such as: "You are one of the missing," and, "Beware! They''re coming back to get you." Jonah, Chip, and Jonah''s little sister Katherine are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere—and people who seem to disappear and reappear at will...and make a staggering discovery: Jonah and Chip, and some other kids are actually the missing children from history, stolen for profit by time travelers. Now, they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for them--and their choices will determine the course of their own lives, and the lives of their friends. Get the first four riveting books in Margaret Peterson Haddix''s New York Times bestselling series The Missing, now available at one great price!

In a war-torn future United States, fifteen-year-old Tessa, her childhood friend Gideon, now a traumatized military hero, and Dek, a streetwise orphan, enter enemy territory and discover the shocking truth about a war that began more than seventy-five years earlier.

Fifteen-year-old Ella finds Prince Charming''s proposal ensnares her in a suffocating tangle of palace rules and royal etiquette. So she plots to escape in a retelling of Cinderella''s story.

From New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix comes a novel about friendship and what it really means to be a family in the face of lies and betrayal. Fourteen-year-old Avery Armisted is athletic, rich, and pretty. Sixteen-year-old Kayla Butts is known as “butt-girl” at school. The two girls were friends as little kids, but that’s ancient history now. So it’s a huge surprise when Avery’s father offers to bring Kayla along on a summer trip to Spain. Avery is horrified that her father thinks he can choose her friends—and make her miss soccer camp. Kayla struggles just to imagine leaving the confines of her small town. But in Spain, the two uncover a secret their families had hidden from both of them their entire lives. Maybe the girls can put aside their differences and work through it together. Or maybe the lies and betrayal will only push them—and their families—farther apart. Margaret Peterson Haddix weaves together two completely separate lives in this engaging novel that explores what it really means to be a family—and what to do when it’s all falling apart.

In a future world of false identities, government lies, and death threats, Luke feels drawn to the younger brother of the boy whose name Luke has taken.

In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish chronicles the changes in her life when her abusive father returns home after a two-year absence.

While ten-year-old Anya faces the difficulties of losing her hair to alopecia, her classmate Keely learns how to stand up for what she knows is right.

Jonah was able to save all of time from collapsing but in doing so gained a twin brother, Jordan, who must learn what has happened and do his own part to save time--and his parents.

"The suspense is unflagging....Recommend this one to fans of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook" (School Library Journal). In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked--Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives. Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all....

Alexandrea has just moved to Harlem and her mother is pushing her into ballet and she has stage fright.

Becca has plenty to hide and everything to lose—but with her future on the line, she’s willing to risk it all. This gripping novel from New York Times bestselling author Maragaret Peterson Haddix “will rivet readers” (Publishers Weekly). Becca’s claim to fame is one she’s been hiding from for the past three years: Her father is a notorious embezzler, and when he was caught, his excuse was, “How else is a guy like me supposed to put his kid through college?” Three years after the trial and imprisonment that destroyed Becca’s life, she and her mother have started over again and are living in a town where no one knows their secret. But as college—and its cost—looms large, Becca begins to wonder how they’ll afford it. And how she can apply for financial aid without divulging her secret? A local scholarship opportunity seems like a dream come true, but as the application process commences, Becca uncovers a chain of secrets that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build. But the truth could also lead her toward the future she’s always dreamed of…

Time travelers Jonah and Katherine arrive in 1611 to rescue John Hudson, son of the explorer Henry Hudson, but soon Jonah and Katherine''s knowledge of history is tested once again, and they fear that more is at stake than just one boy''s life.

A sixteen-year-old boy arranges a housesitting job for the summer, but he starts acting strangely after his family moves in, and his sister begins to suspect they are not supposed to be there.

Fourteen-year-old Cecilia has always known she is the true princess of Suala, but when she and her best friend, Harper, decide to speed up her ascendancy to the throne, they find danger and many imposters who challenge her claim.

Return to the world of the bestselling Running Out of Time with this middle grade thriller from Margaret Peterson Haddix, where Zola discovers she’s related to Jessie Keyser and her seemingly perfect utopian world is covering up a dark reality. Twelve-year-old Zola thinks she has the perfect life. She thinks everyone does, now that it’s 2193, and humanity has solved all its problems. Insta-Closets deliver new clothes every morning, Insta-Ovens deliver gourmet meals on demand, and virtual reality goggles let her have any adventure she wants, with friends from all over the world. Then one day Zola finds a handwritten note in her Insta-Closet: If you want to see things as they really are, come find me. What if Zola’s wrong about everything—even the year? As she struggles to figure out who wrote the note, she discovers a printed book in her Insta-Closet called The Jessie Keyser Story: How One Girl Escaped from Clifton Village. Zola wonders: Who is Jessie Keyser, and why does she look like her . . . and what else do they have in common? In this sequel to the classic novel Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix has crafted a riveting page-turner that captures the terrors of a world where nothing seems real—but finding out who really loves you still matters.

Sukie is worried -- her parents are acting strange. When she runs in the house, her dad asks, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge too?" When she eats peas with her fingers, Mom yells, "You''ll put an eye out with that thing!" What is going on? Have her parents been replaced by aliens? Are they robots with broken circuits? She and her older brothers decide to investigate. And what they discover leads to a kids-against-parents WAR! This very funny book casts a new light on family rules.

Janie''s family moved to a new neighborhood. She found all the children there were richer than she was, but she learned money isn''t that important.

I have to tell you my secret. I can''t go on...without revealing it. I had a pretty good run, hiding from everyone for five years. For five years I was safe. But now... It was a talent that came out of nowhere. One day Lindsay Scott was on the top of the world, the star of a hit TV show. The next day her fame had turned into torture. Every time anyone said anything about her, she heard it. And everyone was talking about Lindsay: fans, friends, enemies, enemies who pretended to be friends.... Lindsay had what looked like a nervous breakdown and vanished from the public eye. But now she''s sixteen and back in the news: A tabloid newspaper claims that Lindsay is being held hostage by her father. The truth? Lindsay has been hiding out in a small Illinois town, living in a house that somehow provides relief from the stream of voices in her head. But when two local teenagers try to "rescue" Lindsay by kidnapping her, Lindsay is forced to confront everything she''s hiding from. And that''s when she discovers there may be others who share her strange power. Lindsay is desperate to learn more, but what is she willing to risk to find the truth? Acclaimed author Margaret Peterson Haddix crafts a remarkable novel that will give readers a lot to talk about.

A sympathetic teacher and her writing assignment help fourth-grader Dexter deal with being the new kid in school after he punches a kid on the first day.

From master of suspense author Margaret Peterson Haddix comes another page-turning stand-alone adventure perfect for fans of Cog and Bad Magic. No matter what anyone tells you, I’m real. That’s what the note says that Max finds under his keyboard. He knows that his best friend, Josie, wrote it. He’d know her handwriting anywhere. But why she wrote it—and what it means—remains a mystery. Ever since they met in kindergarten, Max and Josie have been inseparable. Until the summer after fifth grade, when Josie disappears, leaving only a note, and whispering something about “whatnot rules.” But why would Max ever think that Josie wasn’t real? And what are whatnots? As Max sets to uncover what happened to Josie—and what she is or isn’t—little does he know that she’s fighting to find him again, too. But there are forces trying to keep Max and Josie from ever seeing each other again. Because Josie wasn’t supposed to be real. This middle grade thriller from Margaret Peterson Haddix delves into the power of privilege, the importance of true friendship, and the question of humanity and identity. Because when anyone could be a whatnot, what makes a person a real friend—or real at all?

The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and the disaster, which brought attention to the labor movement in America, is part of the curriculum in classrooms throughout the country. Told from alternating points of view, this historical novel draws upon the experiences of three very different young women: Bella, who has just emigrated from Italy and doesn''t speak a word of English; Yetta, a Russian immigrant and crusader for labor rights; and Jane, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Bella and Yetta work together at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory under terrible conditions--their pay is docked for even the slightest mistake, the bosses turn the clocks back so closing time is delayed, and they are locked into the factory all day, only to be frisked before they leave at night to make sure they haven''t stolen any shirtwaists. When the situation worsens, Yetta leads the factory''s effort to strike, and she meets Jane on the picket line. Jane, who feels trapped by the limits of her own sheltered existence, joins a group of high-society women who have taken an interest in the strike as a way of supporting women''s suffrage. Through a series of twists and turns, the three girls become fast friends--and all of them are in the Triangle Shirtwast Factory on March 25, 1911, the day of the fateful fire. In a novel that puts a human face on the tragedy, Margaret Peterson Haddix has created a sweeping, forceful tale that will have readers guessing until the last page who--if anyone--survives.

SHADOW CHILDREN Luke has never been to school. He''s never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend''s house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He''s lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family''s farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl''s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he''s met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows -- does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?