Sky Jumpers: Book 1

A devastating global war fought with non-radioactive "green bombs" has wiped out most of the world and left the few tiny remaining clusters of people unable to produce electricity or sophisticated machinery. In White Rock, N.D., a community of 917 people built by survivors in one of the enormous bomb craters rimmed by noxious gas clouds knows as Bomb's Breath, the entire population, from childhood on, is obsessed with creating inventions to help advance what's essentially a preindustrial society. Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella never fares well at the annual inventor's competition, but she's brave: Unbeknownst to her parents and all but one friend, she enjoys holding her breath and diving from cliffs through the poisonous patches of Bomb's Breath that give jumpers the pleasing sensation of drifting and floating through the pressurized air. One badly timed breath, however, and she'd be dead. But Hope's courage is tested when bandits threaten to kill everyone in White Rock unless they get the town's entire supply of rare and invaluable antibiotics. With the community held hostage, Hope and her friend Aaren slip away -- followed by Aaren's 5-year-old sister, Brenna -- to get help from the nearest town many miles away, traveling through Bomb's Breath and over steep hills in the dark of night.