The Declaration.

Malley, Gemma (author).

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Like books in Margaret Peterson Haddix’s The Shadow Children series, Malley’s gripping first novel imagines the ramifications of official population controls. Because a wonder drug prevents most deaths, the restriction in this dystopian England is especially severe: Signers of a special pact gained access to the drug but lost the right to procreate. Many regretful signers went on to bear illegal children, such as 14-year-old Surplus Anna, groomed from toddlerhood for a life of drudgery. Drawing a strong Jane Eyre flavor from the chilly, loveless facility where Anna learns how to “make up for . . . existing in the first place,” the indoctrinated teen’s awakening to massive injustice makes compulsive reading. The romance between Anna and another Surplus, actually a messenger from Anna’s activist parents, is less involving, and the plot slips into soap opera at the sequel-ready conclusion. But Malley explores her premise along numerous fascinating lines, and the book will enjoy word-of-mouth popularity among teens whipped into a righteous fury over the notion of a world hijacked by selfish elders.