The Declaration

Book: The Declaration
Author: Gemma Malley
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: immortality=illegal children

The year is 2140. When the scientists and drug companies developed Longevity drugs, it meant the end of cancer, AIDS, and eventually aging itself. World leaders quickly realized that they could have an extreme population problem soon, so they developed The Declaration. Any person wishing to take Longevity drugs, which is almost everyone, must sign a Declaration promising not to have children. Children born in opposition to the Declaration are known as Surpluses. Surplus Anna has lived in Grange Hall since she was two, ever since she was discovered and taken away from her parents, who were sent to prison. Surplus halls were created to raise illegal children and turn them into vaulable assets, instead of simply burdens to the world. They are also taught their place, which is barely human; they live like slaves and have virtually no rights at all.

Anna is a model surplus and prefect at Grange Hall, raised to consider herself worse than dirt and hate her parents for their selfishness in giving birth to her. Her ordered life is first disturbed when a woman she works for gives her a journal, and she secretly writes in it- a very illegal activity at Grange Hall. Then a new surplus boy named Peter arrives, and he challenges Anna to question what she's been told by the horrible Mrs. Pincent and the other teachers. He says he knows her parents, and they love her and want her to escape and rejoin them. She resists at first, but Peter's persistence, his love and friendship, and then his imminent danger spur her to action.

A very compelling dystopian story that explores ideas of life and worth, love and sacrifice, and whether you'd really want to live forever.