Skipping Stones at the Center of the Earth (ARC)

249 Pages·2016·1.95 MB·English

by  Hueller Andy

Advance Reader Copy
This advance reading copy consists of unedited and
uncorrected page proofs. Please note that any quotes for
review must be checked against the finished book.
Unfinished elements of this book (such as illustrations)
are also subject to change.
On Sale Date: August 2011
Fiction 248 Pages 5.5 x 8 inches
ISBN: 978-1-59955-488-4
Bonneville Books
Springville, Utah
Also by Andy Hueller
Dizzy Fantastic and her Flying Bicycle
© 2011 Andy Hueller
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places and dialogue are
products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real. The views
expressed within are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect
the position of Cedar Fort, Inc., or any other entity.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, whether by graphic,
visual, electronic, film, microfilm, tape recording, or any other means, without prior
written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in
critical reviews and articles.
ISBN 13: 978-1-59955-488-4
Published by Bonneville Books, an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc., 2373 W. 700 S.,
Springville, UT 84663
Distributed by Cedar Fort, Inc., www.cedarfort.com
Cover design by Angela D. Olsen
Cover design © 2011 by Lyle Mortimer
Edited and typeset by Megan E. Welton
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed on acid-free paper
Dedication

Bartholomew Rogers’ Three Important
(And Simple!) Things to Remember
for Antarctic Survival
(To Be Filled in as You Learn Them)
1.
2.
3.
1

To the Reader of
This Story
T
welve years ago, three men disappeared; one of these
men is gone for good. Two years later, another man
dropped from the face of the Earth. Four years after that,
a young girl vanished. A piece of hardware connects them
all.
This book does not belong to any of these missing
persons.
But their stories matter, patient reader.
They will matter to you (I hope). And they matter to
a red-headed twelve-year-old boy—the boy to whom this
book does belong.
Confused?
No matter. All will be set straight in good time.
3

Chapter 1
I
n the months following Bartholomew Rogers’ discov-
ery of a flathead screw with a head as big as Rhode
Island underneath the snow and ice of Antarctica, elite
geologists’ conceptions of Earth were forever changed.
Their models of the inside of our planet looked nothing
like the ones scientists had studied for many decades previ-
ous. In the new models, the inside of the planet Earth was
hollower and the mantle was thinner, and there was only
one core while in the old models there had always been
two (what were called the “inner” and “outer” cores).
This core came to be known by scientists as “The Pit of
the Planet” because, as a solid sphere right in the middle
of Earth, it more closely resembled the pit of a peach than
it did the core of an apple.
Globes and maps of Earth were forever changed, too.
Not long after Mr. Rogers discovered his screw, America
discovered and adopted its newest major city: “Robert.”
5