The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau | Book Review

Citizens of Ember shall be assigned work at twelve years of age…

Lina Mayfleet desperately wants to be a messenger. Instead, she draws the dreaded job of Pipeworks laborer, which means she’ll be working in damp tunnels deep underground.

Doon Harrow draws messenger – and asks Lina to trade! Doon wants to be underground. That’s where the generator is, and Doon has ideas about how to fix it. For as long as anyone can remember, the great lights of Ember have kept the endless darkness at bay. But now the lights are beginning to flicker…..

 My Review of The City of Ember

I was first introduced to The City of Ember through a friend who did not want her DVD copy. She said it wasn’t her type of movie or story. Well, lucky for me, it’s exactly the kind of story I love.

The Emberites have been living safely in their city for over 200 years. But lately, the lights that keep the city alive are failing. Food is running low. People are beginning to fear the worst:  what if the lights go out and never come back on?

Lina lives with her elderly grandmother and her baby sister in home full of things that were once useful but are now mainly clutter. Lina’s grandmother begins searching for something that was lost. Something important. She cannot remember what the something is, but she knows it is very important.

One day, when Lina comes in from work, she sees her grandmother in the closet searching for the lost thing. Lina sees her sister with paper in her mouth and a box on the floor.  She gathers the bits of paper from Poppy and glues them together to find a message with missing pieces.  She goes to her friends for help with the message, but no one takes interest until she shows it to Doon. Together Lina and Doon decode the message and find a way to save their city.

This story is reminiscent of The Giver by Lois Lowry. It is a story with underlying meaning. It is full of symbolism and spirituality. This is meant for the young adult reader, but I love it. I think it is a story for the ages.