We are an up and running book club. Go and get your copy of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. We are going to start by reading chapters 1-5 (pages 1-83)  Try and have this section read by Monday, September 29th and be ready to discuss your thoughts with others in the comment section of this blog.

Don’t worry if you don’t quite finish. Just jump in when you can and join in the discussion.

Before you begin reading, we want to know this:

What do you think this book is going to be about? Look at the front cover and the back cover, and maybe the first paragraph to try and guess. Put your thoughts in the comment section.

Please remember -
if you know about the book already, PLEASE don’t ruin it for the rest of us!!!!!

“See” you all on Septermber 29th!

Thanks to all those who answered our discussion question.

Were your predictions right? From what we’ve read so far, we can tell this book is going to be good. This takes place in an area of eternal darkness. The only light source comes from light bulbs powered by the underground generator. But the lights have started to flicker and blackouts have been getting longer and longer and more often. What will happen if the lights go out forever?

In section one, Doon trades the job of messenger with Lina’s job as Pipeworks laboror so he can try and make a difference and fix the generator. Lina really seems to enjoy her messenger job, but poor Doon! Everything that he’s studied about fixing things has nothing to do with fixing the generator. And we loved the part where Lina tells Clary about what she pictures the outside world to be. At the end of this section, the biggest blackout of The City of Ember happened. Good thing that Doon was there to save Poppy.

Are you liking The City of Ember yet? We know we are! Check back next week and please do not read ahead.

Here’s our first discussion question: Based on Lina’s vision that she shared with Clary, what do you think might happen later in this story? Try to include facts from the vision in your prediction.

We wanna give you all a BIG THANK YOU for participating. If you’re reading this, that means that you probably have finished the 2nd section of the book (ch. 6-10, 84-139). If you haven’t finished reading it yet, STOP READING THIS NOW. All I have to say about this section is: WOW. In this section, Lina finds a box that has what she thinks is a set of instructions inside, but isn’t sure what it says because her little sister was chewing on it and now all the words are scrambled up. Could this be the box that is mentioned in the Introduction? Lina thinks the note is important so she tells a few people about them, including the mayor, but none of them cares.

Then Lina tells Doon because she’s sure that he will be interested. Soon Lina and Doon figure out that they had o go down in the pipeworks and find a door, but when they find the door it’s locked. A few days later Lina finds out that her Granny is sick.

Okay here is our discussion question: Doon and Lina have to work together to figure out the mystery of Ember, but they are very different people. We want you to tell us the differences and similarities between these two main characters.

Next time we talk you should be done with chapters 10-15 (pg. 132-192)

When they go down into the pipeworks to find the door again there is a key in the lock. When they open the door they find that the mayor is sleeping, they also find tons and tons of light bulbs and plus more useful supplies. So they tell the assistant guard about the secret room and the mayor. They find out that the secret room is not the way out of Ember and there is another door. Once again they go back down and find the way out of ember but don’t leave just yet. So they tell everyone about the way to escape at the signing.

Okay our discussion question is: How do you think Lina and Doon are going to present information they discovered and how do you think the people of Ember are going to react?

Next time we meet you should be done with section 4 or the end of the book. See you soon.

They go to the place where the boats are stored and the three of them get in the boat and head down the river. It takes a while to reach the end of the river and realize they have to hike for several hours. Lina and Doon filled up their bottles in the river and started their long hike with Poppy. When they finished the long hike, they find out that there was a whole new world above Ember. Lina and Doon decided they should tell the people of Ember so they wrote a note, attached it to a rock, and sent it down the river. Back in Ember, Mrs. Murdo finds the note and begins to untie it.

Will Mrs. Murdo understand the instructions that Lina and Doon sent? Will the citizens of Ember escape to the new world?

Reviewer – Mrs. Phillips