(Found) Earth obliterates itself, aliens act as caretakers and give advice, when humans disobey there is fog or mist that puts them to sleep

[ferrispc]

I read the book as part of an 8th grade (USA) English class for gifted students during the year 1997.

• Aliens adopt and act as caretakers for the humans of Earth after they obliterate themselves. Most of the Earth is a scarred, irradiated wasteland. The humans now live in protected domes or colonies.
• There is a giant hive or ship or something in the sky that connects all of the domes/colonies. The domes or colonies are able to trade with each other.
• One colony has a girl with birth defects that draws tiny stamps or drawings with her mouth or feet because she doesn't have arms. These stamps or drawings are a valuable trade good.
• The humans collect some fruit from a tree to trade or eat and the aliens advise them not to and to discard it. The humans do not. The aliens fog or mist the entire colony and the gas puts them to sleep. The aliens do this each time the humans disobey.
• One girl manages to stay awake during one of the mist/fog events and begins to learn the truth.
• I think the girl that stays awake might become pregnant at one point.
• I think the book ends with the girl and a small group of humans exploring the hive or ship in the sky that connects all of the colonies together.

Each member of my class had a freshly printed version of the book, but I'm foggily remembering that maybe it hadn't been actually published yet. I thought it was titled something like The Hive but I haven't been successful with that title search.

I think the cover may have had the hive-like object that connected everything together on a blue or red sky, landscape shot. Alternatively, it may have had a picture of one of the dome colonies.

 

[BAYLOR]

Sounds interesting.

 

[royheil]

Could it be "Thrive" by Jonathan Janez? I haven't read it myself, but the description sounds similar.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm a bit doubtful about 'Thrive' because I can't find a release date any earlier than 2014, but the O.P. says they read it 1997

 

[ferrispc]

Could it be "Thrive" by Jonathan Janez? I haven't read it myself, but the description sounds similar.

It is not "Thrive" by Jonathan Janez. No military general, no "walled city", more than one human "stronghold" which all trade with each other and communicate with each other through the hive.

Thank you for the try!

 

[tachyon]

The Wall Around Eden by Joan Slonczewski

 

[ferrispc]

Wow, that sounds like what I am looking for and the cover looks like something I have seen before. I've ordered a copy of the book (delivery in about a week) so that I can confirm.

 

[ferrispc]

The Wall Around Eden by Joan Slonczewski

I just learned that the author works at Kenyon College which is about 5 miles away from my high school making it highly likely that we were indeed reading from non-retail copies. Marking this as found with an extreme thank you to tachyon!