The City of Ember
LC Class PZ7.D927 Ci 2003 | | |
Followed by | The People of Sparks |
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The City of Ember is a
It is the first book in the Books of Ember series, which also includes The People of Sparks, The Prophet of Yonwood (a prequel), and the final installment, The Diamond of Darkhold. In 2008, the book was adapted into a film by Walden Media and Playtone.[1]
A graphic novel adaptation by comic book artist Niklas Asker was released on September 25, 2012.[2]
Plot summary
As Earth is being ravaged by a series of apocalyptic events known as the Disaster, a coalition of architects, scientists, and doctors (called the Builders) create an underground city named Ember, with an initial population of 200 citizens (100 elderly adults, 100 babies), to ensure humanity survives, with the intention that future generations of the city will not know about the outside world or that they live underground. They build the city to last for two centuries, after which the citizens of Ember will evacuate and return to the surface world. The Builders give the first mayor of the city a box with a timed lock set to open after 200 years, containing instructions explaining how to leave Ember. The box is passed successfully from mayor to mayor, until the seventh mayor who, thinking it could contain a cure for the deadly coughing disease he contracted, takes the box home and tries multiple times to break it open, but fails. He then dies before he can return the box to its rightful place or inform the next mayor of its importance.
Approximately two hundred and forty-one years after Ember was established, the city's supplies are in danger of exhaustion, and its
Lina's grandmother dies shortly after their discovery of the document, and Lina and Poppy move in with a neighbor, Mrs. Murdo. At work, Doon discovers that the mayor of Ember and a storeroom worker named Looper have been stealing supplies, and he and Lina report the crime to the guards, who unknown to them, are also corrupt. Instead of arresting the mayor, they learn that the guards have declared them criminals and there are notices everywhere with their names. Doon and Lina plan to escape Ember in the boats and agree to meet in the Pipeworks at a certain time, but just before, Lina is arrested and taken to the mayor, who plans to throw her in jail. Suddenly, a blackout occurs, allowing her to escape without being seen; she meets Doon in the Pipeworks with her sister Poppy in tow. Lina, Doon, and Poppy escape in a boat through the river, its current carrying them forward. When the boat stops, they learn the origin of Ember from a diary left by one of its original colonists. Shortly after they are faced with a very steep climb and emerge onto the surface. After exploring the above world, they find a tunnel with a steep drop into a cave. Below, they see Ember's lights and realize they had lived underground for years. To alert the rest of the city about how to leave Ember, they throw a packet with a letter detailing the path to exit, down to the center of Ember. The packet is found by Mrs. Murdo on Harken Square.
Critical reception
The City of Ember was praised for its setting and main characters, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow.
Film adaptation
A film adaptation of the novel, directed by Gil Kenan, was produced by Walden Media and Playtone with Bill Murray as the mayor, Saoirse Ronan as Lina, and Harry Treadaway as Doon.[8] Filming was finished in October 2007, and the film was released in theaters a year later on October 10, 2008. City of Ember was released on DVD on January 20, 2009. The film received mixed reviews, with a Metacritic rating of 58/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]
Awards
- 2003 Child Magazine's Best Children's Book
- 2003 Kirkus Editor's Choice
- 2006 Mark Twain Award[10]
- 2006 William Allen White Children's Book Award
- American Library Association Notable Book
- ^ "City of Ember Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
- ^ "Jeanne DuPrau.com : Coming this year! The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel!". Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- from the original on March 27, 2019.
- ISSN 0006-7385.
- ISSN 0018-5078.
- ISSN 0000-0019.
- ISSN 0362-8930.
- ^ "City of Ember (2008)". IMDb.
- ^ City of Ember, retrieved July 31, 2016
- ^ "Mark Twain Award: Previous Winners". Missouri Association of School Librarians. November 2, 2023.
External links
- Jeanne DuPrau's website Archived February 27, 2019, at the Wayback Machine