 |
||||||
| Home >> Book Reviews >> The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) | ||||||
 |
The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) Review
From the Hardcover edition. User Submitted The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) ReviewsDecember 3, 2008 Although it was written for children it will be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good science fiction thriller. The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race for reasons unknown (perhaps a human holocaust). The town is is supposed to self destruct in 220 years. The "Builders" leave a set of instructions to get out of town with its mayor, but they are lost through the times. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina Mayfleet finds part of an ancient message that was held by her grandmother who was the daughter of one of the town mayors, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon Harrow must decipher the message. They both have seen the deterioration in Ember and believe that something must be done. Inadvertently they discover that the mayor of town and a few corrupt people are hoarding supplies before the lights go out on Ember forever! As they try to tell to the authorities that the mayor is corrupt they find themselves being persecuted by the corrupt town administration and must flee for their lives to a place described in the secret box whose instructions they have managed to decipher. This is the first of four books written for children by Jeanne Dupreau. Although it was written for children it will be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good science fiction thriller. December 1, 2008 My daughter will love it. I previewed this for my 9 year old daughter. I think she will really enjoy it. It was a unique and interesting story. The descriptions were vivid, and the characters were engaging. Plus, it will be interesting to discuss the idea of limited resources with her and how we can use the lessons of Ember to be better stewards and citizens of earth. Also, it was wonderful to have such young heroes, and to realize that you are never too young to make a difference. November 29, 2008 Great book for the authors first book The City of Ember is written by Jeanne DuPrau and it was published in 2003. It was the the authors first book and as a first book I thought that it was a lot of fun to read. The book is meant for a younger audience because the heroes of the story are two young 12 year old children. Ember is a large city in the middle of the dark. The only source of light for the city is the street lights. The street lights are turned on and off every day by the time keeper. Everything in the city of Ember is warn out and and second-hand, everything but the food. The people in the city of Ember are able to grow limited amounts of food but most of their food is kept in the store houses. The store houses were filled with food in the past by the builders. At the age of 12 all children are assigned a job to do. The jobs are assigned by drawing a the job title out of a hat. Lina wants to get the job of messenger. Doon wants to get a job working in the power stations of the city. When Lina draws out the job of pipe works and Doon gets the job of messenger. Doon asks Lina to trade with him. He feels that pipe works is better than messenger at least it will get him closer to the power plant. Doon feels that if he can get into the power plant he can finally understand electricity. Electricity is one of the few things that he feels that he does not understand. When Doon finally gets into the power plant he sees a loud coughing machine that he feels he will never understand. As messenger Lina runs around the city delivering messages from one person to another. The lights of Ember are no longer staying lit like they should. The power plant is getting run down. The lights of Ember are starting to go black in the middle of the day and the citizens of Ember are frightened. Lina spends most of her day sending messages to people simply so they do not have to leave there homes and have to risk being put in the dark when the lights go out. Lina's grandmother unearths an old parchment and that parchment ends up in the hands of Lina's baby sister. The baby sister plays with the parchment tearing and chewing it into little pieces. When Lina finds the paper in the hands of her baby sister it is unreadable. The only thing that she can tell is that it is written in the fine block print of the builders. She feels that the message is important. Lina and Doon spend the rest of the book trying to solve the mysteries of the parchment. The other people that they show the parchment to don't seem to think that it is all that important. From what little they can make out of the document most people feel that it is simply some sort of cooking instructions or something. While Lina and Doon are trying to solve the parchment, the city of Ember is slowly falling apart. The people of Ember know that something needs to be done but no one seems to know what needs to be done. Is the answer in the strange almost unreadable parchment? This book is definitely written for a younger reader but I still really enjoyed it. I read the book in two days. I barely put it down the entire time I was reading. I even went on to read the first part of "The Children of Spark" (second book in the series) that was in the back of the book. I later went out and bought the other three books that go with the city of Ember series. This book is great for a young reader and simply fun for an adult reader like myself. November 25, 2008 The City Under Ground? I have just purchased this book, but the description sounds startlingly similar to Suzanne Martel's "The City Under Ground" -- which is the book I was looking for because I remember reading it back in the 70's and thought my kids would enjoy it now. Martel's is out of print. I'll edit my star count after reading the book. November 25, 2008 audio Excellent way to share a story for a mini-study to students in the classroom without having to purchase a classroom set of books. November 24, 2008 VERY ORIGINAL CONCEPT! I LOVE IT! An underground city...a book based on this concept can either be done very dull and single-faceted, or interesting and imaginitive. Thankfully, this book was the latter--full of imagination and a great ending that leads into the 2nd book, The People of Sparks. It was very hard to put down. November 24, 2008 The City of Ember I loved this book! Plain and simple - I loved it! From the minute I picked it up and read the introduction, I couldn't put this book down. This book is appealing in so many ways, it has likeable characters - both Lina and Doon are normal kids but with noble spirits. It has a villain that is easy to hate - that horrible mayor! To top it all off there is a word puzzle that has to be solved to unravel the mystery of how to escape from Ember. As an adult I thought the story was very entertaining, and I will definitely be sharing it with my son sometime soon. I can see the appeal of this book for the young adult audience, because the heroes of the book - the only ones who really know what's going on - are the kids. Even though it is a book for young adults, it is so well written that I think people of all ages will enjoy it. I know that there were parts of the book where I had to force myself to slow down and enjoy the story, because I was so eager to find out what was going to happen to Lina and Doon that I wanted to race ahead. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone - it's great! Just plan on setting aside a couple of hours to read it, and don't plan on doing anything else. I know that once I started reading The City of Ember I didn't want anything to distract me from it. November 5, 2008 I Eagerly Recommend This Book! The City of Ember is falling apart. The Builders designed the city generations ago, but only provided for its survival for 200 years. The secrets to saving the city have been lost, and now the citizens are in a panic as their provisions run low and confusion sweeps through the masses. Enter 12 year old friends and recent school graduates Lina and Doon. They are both convinced that answers are within their reach, and when Lina finds an old, mysterious document - chewed up and partially destroyed by her baby sister - the friends work together to fill in the missing pieces of the message. They are optimistic and courageous, and their perserverence has profound effects on the future of Ember. There is an interesting paradox in the world DuPrau has created here - while it seems to take place in the future, the lives of the citizens are very primitive. There is no technology for communication and colors like green and blue only exist as expensive and rare colored pencils. The entire city is lit by a system of floodlights, the citizens being woken at 6am when the system turns on, and going to bed at the 9pm "lights out." No one has discovered how to make "moveable light," so they are absolutely restricted to the city's schedule. Knowledge is limited, and children only go to school until the age of 12. The city library is a mostly unused vault of makeshift books. The shadows beyond the city are called the Unknown Regions, and very few dare to enter them. I like the small details that hint at life beyond Ember - mainly, Doon's fascination with bugs, and Lina's care of a tiny bean sprout. It's this curiosity in both of them that make them the most likely saviors of Ember. It seems that everyone else is content in their ignorance, an extension of the darkness that is always just a breath away. Darkness without, darkness within. For me, the story just sprang to life in the last quarter of the book. I simply could not stop reading until I found out what was going to happen to Lina and Doon. I cared about them, I cared about Ember. I think part of DuPrau's success with this book is that she follows the "Show, Don't Tell" approach and let's us see through the characters' actions who they are and why we should care about them. I've been careful not to give anything away in this review, but just know that there are several interesting revelations and an intriguing foundation for the continuation of this story, found in DuPrau's sequel, People of Sparks. November 4, 2008 City of Ember at a cafe in my mind I found this book to be quite an easy read. Keep in mind, the audience this book is aimed towards is kids though. The pictures were great, since I never watched any trailers for the movie, to fill my mind with images of the characters acting out the scenes before my very eyes. This is a great book to read with your children. Jeanne Duprau writes in such a way that allows any aged reader escape into this fictional broken down town. The immediate twist reminds me of Harry Potter when I was only a little one. Since Harry Potter came out when I was in 1st grade, I had a similar experience with that book that i did with this one. Now with this, 13 years of experience and troubles allowed me to relax more to enjoy this wonderful book. I cant wait to read the next few. November 3, 2008 Seeing the Light The City of Ember is an unusual place. It has no sun or moon; only floodlights alleviate the darkness. It has no history--the townspeople only know that it was constructed by "the Builders" a few hundred years ago. And the people do not produce their own goods--they rely on what the Builders left for them in storerooms. But Ember has fallen on hard times--walls crumble, resources run low, and food has become scarce. Worst of all, the electrical system is failing and threatening to plunge the entire city into permanent darkness. Ember's citizens lack the knowledge to combat these problems, and their leader, the mayor, is not interested in finding solutions. Then twelve-year-old Lina Mayfleet stumbles on a forgotten message from the Builders that could help to save the city, but the message is incomplete. Enlisting the help of schoolmate Doon Harrow, Lina works to decipher the message before darkness falls permanently on the city. In The City of Ember (Yearling, 2003), Jeanne DuPrau creates an intriguing world that prompts readers to wonder, what would it be like to live without fresh air or sunshine and without knowledge of anything beyond your own town? DuPrau's story of a civilization that is running out of resources could be read as a cautionary tale by conservationists, but more than that, it is an adventure and a mystery, an empowering story showing young people that they can make an enormous difference in their world. For more The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) reviews click here.
|
|||||
 |
|
|
||||
| Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertising | Contact Us | ||||||
| ©2005 Book Savers, All rights reserved. | ||||||
and Preschoolers