Summary: Ember is
a city with no sun, moon, or stars. The town’s only light is produced by a
rickety, increasingly untrustworthy generator deep underground. Food,
lightbulbs, toiletries all come from storerooms that are nearly empty. No one
from Ember knows what lies beyond the flickering lights of the city. Young Lina
and her friend Doon discover what they think may be directions to another place, outside of Ember. Will they make it out before the lights go out for good?
Reference: DuPrau, J. (2003). The City of Ember. New York, NY: Random House Children's Books.
Impressions: I felt that The City of Ember had a lot of really fascinating elements, but the story never really got off the ground. I didn't realize at first that this is the first entry in a series, so I was disappointed that some of the conflicts, like Doon and Lina's battle with Ember's shady mayor, weren't resolved. It felt to me that the story was just taking off when the book ended, and I wasn't engrossed enough to embark on the sequel. That said, there are some really thought-provoking aspects to the story of a city built underground, where power and light are finite, and words like "sky" and "sun" have no meaning, because no one has ever seen either, and common items like thread and yarn and utensils are used until they disintegrate, because no one knows how to make more. The most interesting mystery, to me, is why " the Builders" created Ember in the first place, and what Doon and Lina will find when they escape. But, I haven't decided if I'm going to make it that far.
Review: DuPrau debuts with a promisingly competent variation on the tried-and-true "isolated city" theme. More than 200 years after an unspecified holocaust, the residents of Ember have lost all knowledge of anything beyond the area illuminated by the floodlamps on their buildings. The anxiety level is high and rising, for despite relentless recycling, food and other supplies are running low, and the power failures that plunge the town into impenetrable darkness are becoming longer and more frequent. Then Lina, a young foot messenger, discovers a damaged document from the mysterious Builders that hints at a way out. She and Doon, a classmate, piece together enough of the fragmentary directions to find a cave filled with boats near the river that runs beneath Ember, but their rush to announce their discovery almost ends in disaster when the two fall afoul of the corrupt Mayor and his cronies. Lina and Doon escape in a boat, and after a scary journey emerge into an Edenlike wilderness to witness their first sunrise-for Ember, as it turns out, has been built in an immense cavern. Still intent on saving their people, the two find their way back underground at the end, opening the door for sequels. The setting may not be so ingeniously envisioned as those of, say, Joan Aiken's Is Underground (Turtleback, 1995) and Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993), but the quick pace and the uncomplicated characters and situations will keep voracious fans of the genre engaged.
Peters, J., Jones, T.E., Toth, L., Charnizon, M., Grabarek, D., & Larkins, J. The City of Ember (book review). School Library Journal (49)5, 150.
Suggested Use: Kids love dystopian fiction! (So do adults, for that matter.) However, some (like The Hunger Games) might be a bit mature for younger kids. I'd set up a sci-fi themed book display featuring The City of Ember and other sci-fi and dystopian novels, including the ones mentioned in the review above) for middle-school aged children.
Impressions: I felt that The City of Ember had a lot of really fascinating elements, but the story never really got off the ground. I didn't realize at first that this is the first entry in a series, so I was disappointed that some of the conflicts, like Doon and Lina's battle with Ember's shady mayor, weren't resolved. It felt to me that the story was just taking off when the book ended, and I wasn't engrossed enough to embark on the sequel. That said, there are some really thought-provoking aspects to the story of a city built underground, where power and light are finite, and words like "sky" and "sun" have no meaning, because no one has ever seen either, and common items like thread and yarn and utensils are used until they disintegrate, because no one knows how to make more. The most interesting mystery, to me, is why " the Builders" created Ember in the first place, and what Doon and Lina will find when they escape. But, I haven't decided if I'm going to make it that far.
Review: DuPrau debuts with a promisingly competent variation on the tried-and-true "isolated city" theme. More than 200 years after an unspecified holocaust, the residents of Ember have lost all knowledge of anything beyond the area illuminated by the floodlamps on their buildings. The anxiety level is high and rising, for despite relentless recycling, food and other supplies are running low, and the power failures that plunge the town into impenetrable darkness are becoming longer and more frequent. Then Lina, a young foot messenger, discovers a damaged document from the mysterious Builders that hints at a way out. She and Doon, a classmate, piece together enough of the fragmentary directions to find a cave filled with boats near the river that runs beneath Ember, but their rush to announce their discovery almost ends in disaster when the two fall afoul of the corrupt Mayor and his cronies. Lina and Doon escape in a boat, and after a scary journey emerge into an Edenlike wilderness to witness their first sunrise-for Ember, as it turns out, has been built in an immense cavern. Still intent on saving their people, the two find their way back underground at the end, opening the door for sequels. The setting may not be so ingeniously envisioned as those of, say, Joan Aiken's Is Underground (Turtleback, 1995) and Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993), but the quick pace and the uncomplicated characters and situations will keep voracious fans of the genre engaged.
Peters, J., Jones, T.E., Toth, L., Charnizon, M., Grabarek, D., & Larkins, J. The City of Ember (book review). School Library Journal (49)5, 150.
Suggested Use: Kids love dystopian fiction! (So do adults, for that matter.) However, some (like The Hunger Games) might be a bit mature for younger kids. I'd set up a sci-fi themed book display featuring The City of Ember and other sci-fi and dystopian novels, including the ones mentioned in the review above) for middle-school aged children.
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