Sky Jumpers: Blog Tour Review

Sky Jumpers (Sky Jumpers, 1) by Peggy Eddleman, September 24, 2013. 288 pages. Published by Random House Children's Books. Source: Publisher.

What happens when you can't do the one thing that matters most? Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella lives in White Rock, a town of inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb's Breath—the deadly band of compressed air that covers the crater left by the bombs—than fail at yet another invention. When bandits discover that White Rock has priceless antibiotics, they invade. With a two-day deadline to finish making this year's batch and no ingredients to make more, the town is left to choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from the disease that's run rampant since the bombs, or die fighting the bandits now. Help lies in a neighboring town, but the bandits count everyone fourteen and older each hour. Hope and her friends—Aaron and Brock—might be the only ones who can escape to make the dangerous trek through the Bomb's Breath and over the snow-covered mountain. Inventing won't help her make it through alive, but with Aaron and Brock's help, the daring and recklessness that usually gets her into trouble might just save them all.

First Sentence:

You would think I’d never jumped off a cliff before, based on how long I stood there.

Whenever I start on a book by a new author, be they debut or just one I’m reading for the first time, I always hope that the book will be entertaining and well written. So, while I was excited to read Peggy Eddleman’s Sky Jumpers, for this tour, I was nervous, especially since some of my last few reads had been disappointing.

So, the thing that makes Sky Jumpers such an interesting story is how the people of Hope’s town took advantage of the Bomb’s Breath and made their home within its protective ring, and the fact that they all contributed to the betterment of their town. The reason I found this so interesting is because while they were still scared of the effects that Bomb’s Breath caused and the danger it posed they knew it could protect them. If anything, it was definitely a great way to work with what you got. Besides making use of a bad situation, what I enjoyed most about the plot would have to be how thrilling the concept was.

While not all of my questions were answered, I am definitely excited to see where Ms. Eddleman takes the series in the next installment of Sky Jumpers.

What I enjoyed most about Peggy Eddleman’s debut would have to be watching Hope discover her strengths and learning to work with what she could do.  As I read Sky Jumpers and learned more about Hope and her struggle to fit into the mold of her town, I couldn’t help but be impressed with Ms. Eddleman’s depiction of Hope’s struggle to be useful because it was so easy well written.

Every book I read, well almost every book, has both its good and bad points. Even though I really enjoyed reading Sky Jumpers it did take some time for me to get into the world that Ms. Eddleman had created. The thing that kept me from liking this one right out of the gate is that it took some time for the existence of the Bomb’s Breath and how it came about to be explained. I would have liked to have known a little earlier on in the story how the world came to be the way it way, but that’s just me and my lack of patience speaking. But other than that, Sky Jumpers was quite the interesting little read.

Final Verdict: Sky Jumpers-

Sky Jumpers earns 4 out of 5 pineapples

About the Author:

Peggy Eddleman is the author of the middle grade post-apocalyptic adventure SKY JUMPERS, to be published by Random House in Fall 2013. She lives at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains with her three hilarious and fun kids (two sons and a daughter), and her incredibly supportive husband. Besides writing, Peggy enjoys playing laser tag with her family, doing cartwheels in long hallways, trying new restaurants, and occasionally painting murals on walls.

You can haunt Peggy Eddleman at-
Goodreads | Website | Twitter |

You can check out all the tour stops for Peggy Eddleman's Sky Jumpers below:

September 11^th: Taffy’s Candy
September 12^th: Smack Dab in the Middle
September 13^th: Once Upon a Story
September 14^th: Inky Elbows
September 15^th: Society of Young Inklings
September 16^th: Me, My Shelf & I
September 17^th: Kayla’s Reads and Reviews
September 18^th: The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
September 19^th: Kid Lit Frenzy
September 19^th: Word Spelunking
September 21^st: The Mod Podge Bookshelf
September 22^nd: The Write Soil
September 23^rd: The Hiding Spot
September 23^rd: Literary Rambles
September 23^rd: Nerdy Book Club
September 24^th: OneFourKidLit