Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

This 2002 Caudill Award Nominee is about Luke, a third child in a world where two children is the maximum. The setting is the not-too-distant future, after great famines have wiped out much of the food supply. A totalitarian government that has passed the Population Law rules the nation. Luke's mother has explained it to him this way, "They (the government) did things to women after they had their second baby, so they wouldn't have any more. And if there was a mistake, and a woman got pregnant anyway, she was supposed to get rid of it."

The novel begins with the government removal of the woods behind Luke's home for a subdivision. Because of the increased population near his home, Luke may never again go outside, or even downstairs, for fear someone may figure out that there are three boys in the house, and report them to the Population Police. The punishment for breaking this law is five million dollars or execution.

Luke's father is forced to give up hog raising. The government deems that more acreage is required for the production of meat than vegetation. Junk food has been banned. Calorie consumption is regulated. Domestic pets are extinct.

When the subdivision is complete, Luke watches the homes through the attic vents and learns about the families, their cars, routines etc. But one day, in the middle of the morning, when no one is supposed to be home, he sees a face at a window, another third. He meets Jen, the child of barons (the upper class), who has been in a car, uses a computer, and is working on a crusade to free the hidden third children of the nation. She was "paid for," genetically designed by her baron parents who wanted a girl. She teaches Luke that distribution not over-population is the cause of the world's hunger, and that the government lies about things. She plans a rally of one thousand hidden children that she has found through the internet. She asks Luke to come along, but he is afraid of capture and is not ready to take such a huge risk.

Jen is gone for several weeks, before Luke tries her home again. Jen's father finds Luke and tells him the horrible news that Jen and forty other hidden children were gunned down on the steps of the White House. Jen's father knows this, because he works for the Population Police. He convinces Luke that he is not for the Population Law, but works there to help hidden children, keeping them from being found or supplying them with fake id's when they are. He offers Luke a fake id, and a chance to escape from his hidden life. The Population Police will be searching the area soon looking for Jen's family or friends.

The book ends with Luke starting a new life, ready to take risks to help the hidden, but not reckless risks like Jen's.

There is a humorous mention of bras. Jen is describing the experience of shopping to Luke.
"And then she made me get a bunch of bras--oh, sorry," she said when Luke blushed a deep red. "I guess you don't talk much about bras at your house." "Matthew and Mark do, sometimes, when they're being...dirty," Luke said. "Well, bras aren't dirty," Jen said. "They're just torture device invented by men or mothers or something."

The lessons about propaganda, over-population, forced sterilization are scarily true for many parts of the world. Obviously, due to the mature material in the novel, it is not for all ages. Haddix has written a thought provoking novel that is appropriate for teens.