Jumper
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In a ripped-from-the-headlines story, nineteen-year-old Blair's passion for fighting fires lands her a spot with the Forest Service and sets her on a wilderness adventure that quickly turns catastrophic.
How far would you go to save yourself?
Blair Scott is in her second season as a wildland firefighter when the Forest Service puts out a call for an additional class of smokejumpers. She and her best friend Jason both apply, though neither expects to get in since they’re only nineteen. But it’s been a devastating fire season, and they are both accepted. But going to training camp is only the first step—everyone expects the teenage rookies will wash out in the first week. Blair has always been touchy about people telling her she isn’t good enough, so she begins taking unnecessary risks to prove herself. It doesn’t take long before everything spins out of control, leaving Blair struggling to cope.
A story of courage, self-knowledge, and ultimate triumph over the elements, Jumper is a dramatic wilderness adventure that explores what it takes to survive—in every sense of the word.
* "Never less than riveting." –Kirkus, starred review
* "[A] pulse-pounding thriller." –Publisher's Weekly, starred review
YALSA Top 10 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection2023 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection2024 Texas TAYSHAS Reading List selectionReading the West Book Award longlist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When white 19-year-old Blair Scott is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, her doctor warns against "overexerting self with strenuous physical activity." But more than anything, Blair wants to be a smokejumper, a wildland firefighter who parachutes into fire zones. "If I had to pick between dying in my sleep or out on the fire line, I knew my choice," she says of her prognosis. After enrolling in Montana's U.S. Forest Service's newest class of smokejumpers, she hides her condition and swears her fellow trainee and best friend, white 19-year-old Jason, to secrecy. Determined to prove herself among her mostly male colleagues, Blair is quick to take risks, and struggles to balance the hazardous training with maintaining her health. When her secret endangers lives amid a fast-burning blaze, she must call upon her intense training to survive. Blair is a fierce and dynamic narrator, and Crowder's (Mazie) immersive prose, crisp dialogue, and haunting descriptions of devastating fires enlivens this pulse-pounding thriller. The author's experience working with Oregon's U.S. Forest Service adds authenticity to the worldbuilding, while informative interstitials educate on firefighting terms, tools, and procedures, as well as how fires start. Ages 14–up.
