Among The Barons

Urgent

Luke has to decide if he will join Oscar or not. If he doesn’t, who knows what will happen!

Setting

The story has several settings. A lot of it takes place in a school run by Mr. Hendricks, who has a wheelchair. Another location is in Smits’s house (which is like a mansion). The final place is around and in Luke’s house. The main characters are: three males: Luke, Oscar, and Smits.

Suspicious Characters

Smits: He is a daunting character because he is always demanding, such as trying to get and getting his own room when normally five people have to share a room. Smits was a tall kid. He also cried a lot for the real Lee in bed.

Smits’s parents: They are despicable because they want Luke to die in Lee’s place, so that everybody would think Lee was a good person, and so that they wouldn’t have to keep paying blackmail money to an unknown person. Smits’s father was a very formal person who was always in a tuxedo. Smits’s mother was a beautiful person, but she was pretty cruel to Luke when she said he would have to die.

Just The Facts

1. Smits had fake identity cards.

2. Smits knew about Lee’s death.

3. Oscar talked to Luke in the soundproof room.

4. Smits’s parents talked to Luke in the soundproof room.

Words

Derelict: Left or abandoned as by the owner or guardian.

Adept: Very skilled.

Heinous: Very evil, dreadful and sinister.

Cataclysmic: Any violent change or up heave, like an earthquake.

Paranoia: A mental disorder characterized by delusions.

Summary

Luke has been in hiding for twelve years, and finally gets a fake identity card as Lee Grant. Luke goes to a boarding school and has a peaceful life. But then Lee Grant’s younger brother Smits arrives at the boarding school. He is the most terrifying kid at the boarding school. After Smits sets a fire at the boarding school Smits’s parents want both Luke (Lee) and Smits to return home. Smits parents want Luke to die in Lee’s place so people will think Lee was a good person. Oscar, who is Smits’s bodyguard and is against Smits’s parents in secret, asks Luke if he wants to work for him against the Barons who are one of the two groups in their society. Luke cannot decide.

Creative Section

More suspicious characters

Oscar: Is menacing because he walks around with a mallet in his hand. Also early in the book he was suspected of setting a fire. He was a stern and strong man.

Mr. Talbot: Is a suspicious character because he is a Baron and Luke wasn’t, and Mr. Talbot still helped Luke. Mr. Talbot was a serious man.

Based on: Among The Barons

By Margaret P. Haddix