A review by nerfherder86
The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle

4.0

Really cool book. I enjoyed the depiction of a dystopian future society, and the adventure really gets going in the last half of the book. Thirteen-year old Martin lives in Suburb HM1, one of several domed self-contained communities. No one ever leaves the suburb, or visits other suburbs, because they've been taught for generations that outside is only desert and death. In the suburb, the dome is painted blue with white patches called "Clouds" (Martin wonders why they're called that), plastic flowers are put on plastic lawns, hardly anyone has to work a job, and everyone is a consumer of things seen on television, including babies--who are literally brought by the Stork, a special "Packet" train. On the surface, it's a perfect life, but Martin begins to discover disturbing things about the Suburb. He already hates school, and when his parents give him an AllDog--a mechanical shapechanging "bot"-- for his birthday, he's insulted; pets are for little kids, Martin thinks. But his dog turns out to be pretty unique. Martin's 6 year old sister Cassie is a special kind of child, one of a generation of genetically altered genius "Wonder Babies"; these kids teach themselves at school, they're so smart. But not everyone loves Wonder Babies--they call them "freaks" and tease them, and Martin and his parents are dismayed to learn that Wonder Babies are going to be recalled--just like a bad product! What can he do to keep his family from falling apart?