Sunday, May 27, 2007

City of Ember


DuPrau, Jeanne. 2003. The City of Ember.

When the city of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder, both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
“They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,” said the chief builder. “Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.”
“Is that long enough?” asked his assistant.
“It should be. We can’t know for sure.”
“And when the time comes,” said the assistant, “how will they know what to do?”
“We’ll provide them with instructions, of course,” the chief builder replied.
“But who will keep the instructions? Who can we trust to keep them safe and secret all that time?”
“The mayor of the city will keep the instructions,” said the chief builder. “We’ll put them in a box with a timed lock, set to open on the proper date.”
“And will we tell the mayor what’s in the box?” the assistant asked.
“No, just that it’s information they won’t need and must not see until the box opens of its own accord.”
“So the first mayor will pass the box to the next mayor, and that one to the next, and so on down through the years, all of them keeping it secret, all that time?”
“What else can we do?” asked the chief builder. “Nothing about this endeavor is certain. There may be no one left in the city by then or no safe place for them to come back to.”
So the first mayor of Ember was given the box, told to guard it carefully, and solemnly sworn to secrecy. When she grew old, and her time as mayor was up, she explained about the box to her successor, who also kept the secret carefully, as did the next mayor. Things went as planned for many years. But the seventh mayor of Ember was less honorable than the ones who’d come before him, and more desperate. He was ill--he had the coughing sickness that was common in the city then--and he thought the box might hold a secret that would save his life. He took it from its hiding place in the basement of the Gathering Hall and brought it home with him, where he attacked it with a hammer. But his strength was failing by then. All he managed to do was dent the lid a little. And before he could return the box to its official hiding place or tell his successor about it, he died. The box ended up at the back of a closet, shoved behind some old bags and bundles. There it sat, unnoticed, year after year, until its time arrived, and the lock quietly clicked open.
(1-3)

Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are two twelve-year-olds who team up to try to save the city of Ember as its decay becomes more evident and its failure more imminent. With supplies running low--many items being absent for generations--and the generator beginning to fail...it’s only a matter of time before the city loses electricity and is plunged into eternal darkness. What will they do then? Can anything be done to save their city? To save their lives? The answer may be closer than they imagine as Lina discovers the fragments of paper that were the instructions. The problem? Her toddler sister discovered the box and its contents first--now the fragments have been chewed and sucked on...can they decipher the message and save the city???

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought this book was really good - I liked how exciting it was!

Anonymous said...

I liked the City of Ember alot. It was very interesting. It kept me reading. I hope you will enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

I thought this book was really cool! It kept me interested. I would like to read the sequel! You will be surprised when you read the end of the book. I liked it because it was adverturous and also it was kind of a mystery of what was going to happen next! Jeanne Duprau is a very talented author. You will like her books.

Anonymous said...

I thought this book was pretty cool. I liked how u kept wanting to read it to find out if they ever find out why city is dark and if they ever find a weay out. I would totally recommend this book.

Anonymous said...

I thought this book was kinda slow in the begining but then it started to get better. then when i had to stoped read i wanted to read on.it was pretty good.

Anonymous said...

This book is cool and all but the beginning is ok and the is is so COOL! You should read it sometimes!


P.S Don't listen to your friends when they say books are stupid and all because their not! And you'll know more things if you read!

Anonymous said...

City of Ember is a book that takes you on a suspenseful journey with two kids that want to save thier people. Jeanne DuPrau is a great author. If you like suspenseful adventures and stuuf like that read this marvelous book!!!!!!!!