Module 8: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

"There's so much darkness in the City of Ember, Lina.  It's not just outside, it's inside us, too."

lookingglassreview.com

Citation
DuPrau, J.  (2003).  The city of Ember.  New York:  Random House Children's Books.


Summary
The city of Ember is lit purely by electricity, but this is all its citizens know.  Beyond the city limits it is pitch-black, and no one has dared venture out.  But the city is failing.  Power outages are becoming frequent and the food stores are running low. Children attend school until the age of twelve, at which point they receive their randomly-chosen work assignments.  Lina wanted to be a Messenger, delivering messages around the city.  Doon wanted to work in the Pipeworks, to understand how the city is powered and figure out what is causing the power outages.  It is only after the two old friends trade jobs that both are satisfied--and both begin to question the future of Ember.  Their curiosity increases when Lina uncovers a mysterious and incomplete message about their city.  As they work to decipher the meaning, Lina and Doon discover unsettling truths about Ember.  What will happen when the power does not come back on?  What will the city do when the food runs out?  What lies beyond the flickering lights of Ember?  


My Impressions
Lina and Doon are smart, hardworking, and relatable young people.  Readers immediately take a liking to both as they wait anxiously for their work assignments at the start of the book.  Feeling almost more like a mystery than science fiction, the book pulls the reader into the streets of Ember, giving out only as much information as necessary about what the city is and how it operates.  The cryptic message Lina discovers leads her and Doon through an exciting adventure around and out of Ember.  Though it takes a little while to pick up speed, the novel reads quickly, effectively combining insight, suspense, and action.  Readers who finish this book will want to jump right to the next book in the series.


Reviews

Horn Book Magazine

"Unlike the rundown dystopia of Lois Lowry's Gathering Blue, the darkness of Ember is essentially literal. Its people, by and large, are honorable and civilized; its governance is democratic if quasi-theocratic; its economy frugal but fair. But there is no natural light in Ember, and the blackouts of its antiquated electrical grid are coming more and more frequently: "running out of light bulbs, running out of power, running out of time--disaster was right around the corner." So thinks Doon, a curious twelve-year-old who, along with his spirited schoolmate Lina, determines to save the city. On a deliberately limited canvas, first-novelist DuPrau draws a picture of a closed society, all of its resources taken from vast but emptying storerooms, with no travel possible beyond the lights of the city. The writing and storytelling are agreeably spare and remarkably suspenseful, and rather than bogging down in explanations of how Ember came to be and how it functions, DuPrau allows the events of the story to convey the necessary information. There's a contrivance or two in keeping the narrative moving, but even the device of a hidden letter, complete with missing words, is used with such disarming forthrightness that readers will be eagerly deciphering it right alongside Doon and Lina. The two protagonists are good sorts, distinctively if not deeply etched, and fans (note: there will be many) will be pleased to know that while Doon and Lina's mission is triumphantly concluded, there's plenty of room for a sequel.

Sutton, R.  (2003).  [Review of the book The City of Ember by J. DuPrau].  Horn Book Magazine, 79(3), 343.

Publisher's Weekly

"In her electric debut, DuPrau imagines a post-apocalyptic underground world where resources are running out. The city of Ember, "the only light in the dark world," began as a survival experiment created by the "Builders" who wanted their children to "grow up with no knowledge of a world outside, so that they feel no sorrow for what they have lost." An opening prologue describes the Builders' intentions--that Ember's citizens leave the city after 220 years. They tuck "The Instructions" to a way out within a locked box programmed to open at the right time. But the box has gone astray. The story opens on Assignment Day in the year 241, when 12-year-olds Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow draw lots for their jobs from the mayor's bag. Lina gets "pipeworks laborer," a job that Doon wants, while Doon draws "messenger," the job that Lina covets, and they trade. Through their perspectives, DuPrau reveals the fascinating details of this subterranean community: as Doon repairs leaks deep down among the Pipeworks, he also learns just how dire the situation is with their malfunctioning generator. Meanwhile, the messages Lina carries point to other sorts of subterfuge. Together, the pair become detectives in search of the truth--part of which may be buried in some strange words that were hidden in Lina's grandmother's closet. Thanks to full-blooded characters every bit as compelling as the plot, Lina and Doon's search parallels the universal adolescent quest for answers. Readers will sit on the edge of their seats as each new truth comes to light. Ages 10-13."

Roback, D., Brown, J.M., Bean, J. & J. Zaleski.  (2003).  [Review of the book The City of Ember by J. DuPrau].  Publisher's Weekly, 250(10), 72.

Suggested Library Uses

• Show the film, The City of Ember (Sachs, 2008) and encourage patrons to read the book before attending.  Hold a discussion following the movie comparing the film and the book.
• This would also make a great book for a book club, as participants can discuss the society in which Lina and Doon live, as well as the events and mysteries of the novel.  It could stand on its own or as part of a series of novels involving dystopian societies. 

Sachs, D.C. (Producer) & Kenan, G. (Director).  (2008).  The city of Ember.  [DVD].  


Find it @ your library - Albany County Public Library
J DUPRAU, JEANNE


Notes
ALA Notable Children's Book, 2004