An Alien Music

I must have borrowed this book from the library a dozen times. This is a great coming-of-age story told with unusual skill. Jesse Wilder was raised in Missouri. Her parents died when she was young, and her brother left to work for NASA, leaving her with the neighbors. She writes to him often, but he rarely replies. While she's resourceful and creative, it seems like whatever she does is a disaster. Global warming and acid rain are wreaking havoc on the climate. The trees died and the temp is in the 120's, day after day. But no one ever thought it was the end of the world. But when her foster mother dies of heat stroke, and Jesse is about to be pawned off on other neighbors, she decides she's had enough. Her resourcefulness helps her as she hitches rides cross country to find her brother. On her way, she realizes that, just maybe, it is the end of the world... Her brother is on board the Skylab 7. Jesse cons her way on board, but finds out that he never planned to send for her after all. He would have let her die on Earth....Meanwhile, she has bigger problems, because the Skylab 7 and all on board are on their way to colonize Mars...