City of Ember

 



The City of Ember is a book by Jeanne DuPrau. It starts out on assignment day, which is where twelve year olds are assigned jobs. Lina, the main character, gets pipe works which is the job she wanted the least. Doon, another main character gets messenger. Doon wanted pipe works as his job because he knew Ember (the underground city) was falling. He wanted to help, but unfortunately he couldn't find out how. When Lina finds an old torn up document chewed up by her siter, Doon and Lina team up to find the way out of Ember. When they finally uncode the document, they make a plan for all of Ember to get out. Unfortunately, their plan goes wrong and Lina, Doon, and Lina's little sister are the only ones who escape to find the Earth's surface.

The theme of this book is survival. Ember is falling, and it is a constant race for survival. The lights keep going out which reminds everyone that Ember could fall, and it would be very hard to survive. "The darkness seemed to fill not just the city around her but the inside of her head as well."(DuPrau 79) The food sources in Ember were low as well which caused the citizens to stock up their pantries for their survival. Lina and Doon are trying to find a way out of Ember for a better chance of survival. As you can see, survival is a reoccurring theme in this book.

There are two main characters in the City of Ember. Lina is the first character. She has dark hair, long legs, and wears her red messenger jacket around town proudly. She loves her little sister, Poppy, and she likes to run. She is nice and has a carefree attitude. Doon is the second main character. Doon is stubborn and he gets angry a lot, but he is also alert, resourcful, nice, and smart. Doon loves his father and likes to collect bugs. Those are the two main characters in this book.

I really enjoyed the City of Ember and I would reccomend it to other middle schoolers. The plot keeps you interested and has characters that are realistic. The adventure in this book is what kept me reading. You would like this book if you like action, mystery, adventure, and survival stories. Even if you don't really like those words listed above, you still will probally like this book. It's also pretty easy to read.


Citations-

DuPrau, Jeanne.  The City of Ember. New York: Random House Books, 2003. Print

I got my picture at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Ember