Jeanne DuPrau

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

While visiting the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina, eleven-year-old Nickie makes some decisions about how to identify both good and evil when she witnesses the townspeople's reactions to the apocalyptic visions of one of their neighbors.

Several hundred years in the future, in a world where fossil fuels are no longer used as a power source, a thirteen-year-old boy named Keith joins a jet pack project that will give people the ability to fly.

"The Alpha and Omega teams are in a race for the six essential elements that can fuse into a new source of clean energy, but the elements are scattered throughout the galaxy, and the teams are running out of time"--

Discusses the methods, regulation, and ethics of cloning in relation to agriculture, medicine, endangered species, and human beings.

Discusses the legal and emotional aspects of the adoption process and examines the current movement for giving the adoptee free access to the records concerning his or her origin.