An interview with awesome author Margaret Peterson Haddix by Dominique, the 2006 YABC teen demi-goddess.

I first started thinking about Among the Hidden when my husband and I were trying to decide whether to have a third child. All the reasons we could come up with for having or not having another baby seemed entirely subjective—except the possibility that the world was overpopulated, and it might be irresponsible to have more than two kids. I found that issue frustrating, though, and I can remember thinking one night, “Well, really, if overpopulation were really that bad, there’d be a law, that nobody could have a third child.” My next thought was, “What if there was a law against third children?” I knew instantly that I had an idea for a book, although I certainly didn’t picture it as a seven-book series until much, much later.

What do you think the future for the world will be like?

Watching the latest trends in population figures makes me think that overpopulation and resulting food shortages aren’t really the problems we have to worry about, at least not worldwide. I can imagine lots of different possible future: wars ending, poverty and hunger decreasing, kindness abounding… or pollution increasing, wars escalating, disasters multiplying…. I can imagine just about anything, but I’ve got no idea what’s really going to happen.

Will there be any more books on the main characters of the Shadow Children series after Among the Free?

No, Among the Free is the last.

Just Ella showed another, less pleasant side of being a princess. Where did your inspiration for Just Ella come from?

My daughter was about two or three years old, and she was fascinated by fairy tales. This meant that I spent a lot of time reading fairy tales to her, and they began to bother me. All that falling in love at first sight, all the emphasis on physical appearance, all those wimpy princesses who did nothing but stand around looking pretty and getting rescued… I kept wanting to tell my daughter, “Honey, if some guy asks you to marry him the first time you meet him, please, please, please wait until you get to know him a little better!” Since my daughter was so young, I couldn’t exactly hit her with the full force of my feminist commentary. So I wrote Just Ella instead.

Which of your characters would you like to spend one day being? Why?

It would largely depend on which day of my characters’ lives I’d get to pick—some of them have faced some pretty rough days!

Actually, this is much too hard to choose. But I do feel as though I’ve spent many, many days “being” my characters, since I really do try to put myself in their place as I’m writing about them.

Did you base any of your characters on people you knew?

Only indirectly. I have certainly pulled characteristics from real people I’ve known, for characters in my books, but it’s sort of like putting together an assortment of different characters from different boxes of Lego—I’ll borrow one person’s impulsiveness, another person’s courage, etc., etc., etc.

What is your favorite genre of books to read?

Fiction. Okay, I realize that that’s an awfully broad category, but I do enjoy a broad range. Give me a good book in any genre and I’m happy!