THE CITY OF EMBER

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
DuPrau, Jeanne. 2004. THE CITY OF EMBER. New York: Random House. ISBN 0375822747

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In the city of Ember, it is the year 241 (give or take a few years since some of the past time keepers forgot to keep the clocks wound or to change the date sign). There is no natural light and “the sky was always dark”. Unknown to the citizens, time has run out on their city. It should have been evacuated at the 200 year mark, but the secret box with the directions on how to leave was misplaced by one of the early mayors. Now the city is plagued with power outages, food and supply shortages, and a doomsday feeling.

Two twelve year olds, newly assigned to the work force of the city, begin to fear for the future of Ember. Lina, who is being raised by her grandmother after her parents untimely deaths, discovers a mysterious box in which the contents have been chewed apart by her little sister. Doon (who Lina has recently renewed her friendship with) has been concerned with the more frequent blackouts in the city and knows that the city’s generator will not be working much longer. Together Lina and Doon must piece together the mystery of the builders’ instructions and work against a system that believes “curiosity causes trouble”.

Will these young protagonists successfully rescue the citizens residing in their doomed city, or will they be victims of the tyrannical mayor and his corrupt leadership? This the reader must discover.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
At the beginning of this science fiction novel is a map of Ember. This graphic helps the reader with the layout of the city while giving a feeling of familiarity to it (If there is a map to it, it might actually exist!). Jeanne DuPrau draws the reader in with well written descriptions of what life in this fanciful city is like. From Assignment Day (“Some years there were several good jobs, like greenhouse helper, timekeeper’s assistant, or messenger, and no bad jobs at all. Other years, jobs like Pipeworks laborer, trash sifter and mold scraper were mixed in. But there would always be at least one or two jobs for electrician’s helper. Fixing the electricity was the most important job in Ember, and more people worked at it than anything else.”) to descriptions of the blackouts (“And then the lights flickered and flickered again, and went out. Darkness slammed up in front of her like a wall. She stumbled, caught herself, and stood still. She could see absolutely nothing.”)the reader is able to be emotionally involved with what is happening in Ember.

Although you are never given the history of why Ember was started, the story runs smoothly, giving the reader the details needed to stay involved in the story. The plot is believable and even though the story is science fiction, the characters act normally, with no supernatural powers or abilities. The fact that Lina has no parents and Doon only has a father makes them both sympathetic characters. Because of their losses and the fact that education in Ember ends at age twelve (“first we get our education; then we serve our city”), these two characters are believably mature.

There is no light hearted feel to the story as potatoes, colored pencils, and cans of peaches become scarce, and the darkness continues to permeate the city and the novel.
The ending is well done, and although there is not closure, there is satisfaction along with the need to read the next novel to find out what happens to the citizens of Ember.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booklist: “Ember, a 241-year-old, ruined doomed city surrounded by a dark unknown, was built to ensure that humans would continue to exist on Earth, and the instructions for getting out have been lost and forgotten. On Assignment Day, 12-year-olds leave school and receive their lifetime job assignments. Lina Mayfleet becomes a messenger, and her friend Doon Harrow ends up in the Pipeworks beneath the city, where the failing electric generator has been ineffectually patched together. Both Lina and Doon are convinced that their survival means finding a way out of the city, and after Lina discovers pieces of the instructions, she and Doon work together to interpret the fragmented document. Life in this post holocaust city is well limned—the frequent blackouts, the food shortage, the public panic, the search for answers, and the actions of the powerful, who are taking selfish advantage of the situation. Readers will relate to Lina and Doon’s resourcefulness and courage in the face of ominous odds.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Well-paced, this contains a satisfying mystery, a breathtaking escape over rooftops in darkness, a harrowing journey into the unknown, and cryptic messages for readers to decipher. The setting is well realized with the constraints of life in the city intriguingly detailed. The likable protagonists are not only courageous but also believably flawed by human pride, their weakness often complementing each other in interesting ways.”

5. CONNECTIONS
Discuss all the different jobs necessary in a community and list them. Then write the different jobs on note cards and place in a sack. Tell the students that the job they select will be theirs for the rest of their life. Students choose their jobs and then respond to how they feel about them. Explain that this was the fate of the twelve year olds in Ember. Compare and contrast the different jobs from Ember and the jobs required in a community.

Visit the website http://www.cityofember.com/ and have students enter the site’s widget. Then have students click on Underground and they can explore different underground structures from Sweden’s underground naval base to the world’s subway system. There are even pictures and information about the underground tunnels behind Niagara Falls. This will lend itself to a discussion about life for the residents of Ember.

Other books in the Ember series:
DuPrau, Jeanne. THE PEOPLE OF SPARKS. ISBN 0375828257
DuPrau, Jeanne. THE PROPHET OF YONWOOD. ISBN 0440421241
DuPrau, Jeanne. THE DIAMOND OF DARKHOLD: THE FOURTH BOOK OF EMBER (Due out August 26, 2008), ISBN 0975855718