Four kids. Four secrets. How Wyatt came to live with Joseph Bell. Why K lives in a Skyhawk plane in the hangar. Why Sophie's mother left her when she was an infant. Why the cloud hopper was in the hot air balloon in the middle of storm. What are they hiding?

When a girl in a homemade hot air balloon falls out of the sky in rural Gilbertine, there are questions: Who is this girl, where exactly did she come from, why won’t she talk, and what has she risked to live in a country that does not seem to want her?

And what can Sophie, Wyatt, and K—three misfit best friends with complex and harrowing stories of their own—do to help the girl who can’t trust those who want to help her? What should they do? As seen through the eyes of 14-year-old Sophie, who lives with her terminally ill grandmother, Cloud Hopper by National Book Award finalist Beth Kephart is a poignant, high-flying adventure set among the old planes, Vietnam vets, and majestic hot air balloons of a run-down municipal airport. It’s about the rules we’ll break and the dangers we’ll face to do the most-right thing we can imagine, even when we’re feeling long past brave.

Kephart's characters are loveable. Her descriptions of areas and events excel. Her heartwarming story is something we all need in this time of strife. Great for people of all ages. ( )