Library of Congress CPD Summary: "In a world where children under twelve are used as slave labor in subterranean lime mines, eleven-year-old Whensday Bluehouse struggles to survive the continuous poison rains and evade the ruthless Syndicate soldiers.

"[1] Adam Rapp stated in an interview that the book was based on his dissatisfaction with capitalism and America's "obsession with commerce" and the negative effects of the industrial revolution.

It inspired by him seeing "American Embassy soldiers torturing a child in South Africa, which made him interested in writing about how kids were treated.

Burrowman is attempting to make a profit by selling Whensday to a woman from Toptown, a part of the world that is unaffected by acid rain and life on The Shelf.

Whensday decides to befriend Honeycut, and he rescues her during a vicious rape by Second Staff Brown, a minor officer in the military.