Among the Hidden
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50 free Among the Hidden trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Margaret Peterson Haddix's Among the Hidden imagines a country where the Government decides how many children a family may have, and where a boy named Luke Garner has spent twelve years out of sight on his parents' farm. It is a short, tense novel, widely taught in middle school, and for many readers it is their first dystopian story. This quiz covers the whole book: Luke's shrinking world at home, the day he risks crossing the yard, his friendship with Jen, her plan to force the Government's hand, and the choice Luke faces in the final chapters. A few questions look at the author and at how the story continues in the later books. It is written for students reading the novel in class and for the teachers and parents reading with them. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so it works as a reading check, a review before a test, or a printable set for a book club.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Among the Hidden, what makes twelve-year-old Luke Garner illegal under the Population Law?
Being a third child
Being a third child is a crime because the law allows each family only two. Luke has never had a friend or met anyone outside his own family.
Q 02In Among the Hidden, what does Luke Garner spot in a neighbor's window that changes his life?
A child's face
A child's face appears at the window after that family's two sons have left for the day, so Luke knows someone else is in hiding. Until then he had no idea whether he was the only one.
Q 03In Among the Hidden, what happens to Jen and the other children who attend her rally?
They are shot dead
They are shot dead by the police, every one of them, and the Government keeps the rally off the news. Luke learns the truth only when he slips back into Jen's house to look for her.
Q 04In Among the Hidden, what are the rich city families who move in beside the Garner farm called?
Barons
Barons have money, power and luxuries nobody else can get. Luke's father and brothers scoff at their fancy clothes, which even the children wear.
Q 05In Among the Hidden, what new name does Luke Garner live under after he leaves the farm?
Lee Grant
Lee Grant was a real boy from a wealthy family, and his identity papers let Luke step out of hiding for the first time in his life.
Q 06In Among the Hidden, what does Jen's father hand the Population Police officers as a bribe?
Fur coats
Fur coats, kept out of sight in the house, buy off the officers just as they come within inches of finding Luke. Jen's father warns that the trick only buys a little time.
Q 07In Among the Hidden, which banned snack does Jen share with Luke Garner at her house?
Potato chips
Potato chips and soda are outlawed as junk food, yet wealthy families like Jen's can still get hold of them. Some poorer families, she says, can barely feed the child they are hiding.
Q 08In Among the Hidden, where does Jen plan to stage her protest for hidden children?
The president's house
The president's house is the target: Jen wants the children to stand on its lawn and refuse to leave until they have the same rights as everyone else.
Q 09In Among the Hidden, what does the Government cut down beside the Garner farm to build houses?
The woods
The woods were the cover that let Luke play and work outdoors unseen, so when the trees fall he loses the open air for good.
Q 10In Among the Hidden, Luke Garner and his brothers Matthew and Mark share their names with whom?
Gospel writers
Gospel writers Matthew, Mark and Luke lend the three Garner boys their names, a hint that this hardworking farm family is a religious one.
Q 11In Among the Hidden, which windowless part of the farmhouse is Luke Garner's bedroom?
The attic
The attic suits Luke well enough apart from its lack of a view. He passes the hours there with hand-me-down toys and the family's few books.
Q 12In Among the Hidden, where is Luke Garner sent to live once he leaves his family's farm?
A boarding school
A boarding school means Luke never has to pretend to love a set of stand-in parents, a relief to a boy who has just left his real ones.
Q 13Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the opening novel of which seven-book series?
Shadow Children
Q 21In Among the Hidden, what is Jen's father pointing at Luke Garner when the two first meet?
A gun
A gun is something Luke knows only from books and his father's stories, because they are outlawed for everyone but Government officials. Jen's father lowers it once Luke says he is her friend.
Q 22In Among the Hidden, where does Luke Garner hide when the Population Police burst into Jen's house?
In a closet
In a closet, Luke pulls a blanket over himself as the officers throw the door open. He is certain he is about to die, yet they leave without finding him.
Q 23In Among the Hidden, why does Jen creep into Luke Garner's room the night before the rally?
To say goodbye
Shadow Children is also Jen's name for illegal kids like herself and Luke. Haddix had not planned a sequel, then went on to write six more books.
Q 14In Among the Hidden, what does Luke Garner peer through to watch the new houses being built?
Roof vents
Roof vents at either end of his room give Luke his only view of the world outside. One looks over the road and the other over the building site.
Q 15In Among the Hidden, where must Luke Garner eat his meals once builders start work nearby?
On the stairs
On the stairs Luke is out of sight of the kitchen windows, after a worker's remark showed that shades pulled on a hot day look suspicious. From there he can hardly hear his family talk.
Q 16In Among the Hidden, which animals does a Government letter order the Garner family to get rid of?
Their pigs
Their pigs were the farm's main earner, yet the letter calls them a health hazard so close to the new houses. Selling grain alone does not pay enough.
Q 17In Among the Hidden, what kind of job does Luke Garner's mother take to pay a huge tax bill?
Factory work
Factory work keeps her away all day, so Luke loses the one person who kept him company. One night she is so tired that she falls asleep halfway through telling him a story.
Q 18In Among the Hidden, what nickname does Luke Garner give the neighbors Jen turns out to live with?
The Sports Family
The Sports Family earned the name from the piles of athletic equipment they own. Luke gave the other new households nicknames of the same kind.
Q 19In Among the Hidden, how does Luke Garner get past the locked door on his first trip to Jen's house?
He breaks the screen
He breaks the screen with his hand and reaches through to undo the latch. After all his careful planning, Luke had never imagined the door might not open.
Q 20In Among the Hidden, what does Jen do the moment she first notices Luke Garner in her home?
She tackles him
She tackles him and twists his arm behind his back, taking Luke for a burglar. She lets go only when he whispers that the Population Police must not come.
To say goodbye: Jen says she understands why Luke is staying behind and tells him she will miss him. Then she is gone.
Q 24Which real-world government rule helped inspire Margaret Peterson Haddix to write Among the Hidden?
China's one-child policy
China's one-child policy came up while Haddix and her husband were debating whether to have more than two children. Those talks about overpopulation grew into Luke's story.
Q 25In Among the Hidden, what does Luke Garner resolve to do once he has a legal identity?
Help other illegal children
Help other illegal children: that is the aim, and Luke means to pursue it quietly. He imagines learning to grow more food, or finding a way for people to live on other planets.
Q 26In Among the Hidden, what is the surname of Jen, the first friend Luke Garner ever makes?
Talbot
Talbot is the name of a powerful household: Jen introduces herself in full as Jennifer Rose, and her father turns out to work for the Government.
Q 27In Among the Hidden, how did the real boy whose identity Luke Garner takes lose his life?
A skiing accident
A skiing accident killed the boy only the night before Luke left the farm. He came from a wealthy household, so Luke must now pass as rich.
Q 28In Among the Hidden, how does Jen's father warn Luke Garner that the house is bugged?
He writes it down
He writes it down because every word spoken in the house is being recorded. His first message tells Luke to stay silent.
Q 29In Among the Hidden, how does Jen cover for the blood Luke Garner leaves behind at her house?
She cuts her own hand
She cuts her own hand in the same way, so her parents will believe she did the damage herself. Luke is amazed at such loyalty from someone he has only just met.
Q 30In Among the Hidden, what of Luke Garner's does Jen run through a Government database?
His fingerprints
His fingerprints matched no record at all, which told Jen that Luke was truly hidden and could be trusted. Only then did she show him her secret chat room.