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Your Learning Zone - The City of Ember (Books of Ember)
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $3.05
Your Save: $ 3.94 ( 56% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Yearling
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780385736282
ISBN: 0385736282
Label: Yearling
Manufacturer: Yearling
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2008-08-26
Publisher: Yearling
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Release Date: 2008-08-26
Studio: Yearling
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Although it was written for children it will be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good science fiction thriller.
Comment: The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race for reasons unknown (perhaps a human holocaust). The town is is supposed to self destruct in 220 years. The "Builders" leave a set of instructions to get out of town with its mayor, but they are lost through the times.
Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina Mayfleet finds part of an ancient message that was held by her grandmother who was the daughter of one of the town mayors, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon Harrow must decipher the message. They both have seen the deterioration in Ember and believe that something must be done.
Inadvertently they discover that the mayor of town and a few corrupt people are hoarding supplies before the lights go out on Ember forever! As they try to tell to the authorities that the mayor is corrupt they find themselves being persecuted by the corrupt town administration and must flee for their lives to a place described in the secret box whose instructions they have managed to decipher.
This is the first of four books written for children by Jeanne Dupreau. Although it was written for children it will be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good science fiction thriller.
Customer Rating:
Summary: My daughter will love it.
Comment: I previewed this for my 9 year old daughter. I think she will really enjoy it. It was a unique and interesting story. The descriptions were vivid, and the characters were engaging. Plus, it will be interesting to discuss the idea of limited resources with her and how we can use the lessons of Ember to be better stewards and citizens of earth. Also, it was wonderful to have such young heroes, and to realize that you are never too young to make a difference.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book for the authors first book
Comment: The City of Ember is written by Jeanne DuPrau and it was published in 2003. It was the the authors first book and as a first book I thought that it was a lot of fun to read. The book is meant for a younger audience because the heroes of the story are two young 12 year old children.
Ember is a large city in the middle of the dark. The only source of light for the city is the street lights. The street lights are turned on and off every day by the time keeper.
Everything in the city of Ember is warn out and and second-hand, everything but the food. The people in the city of Ember are able to grow limited amounts of food but most of their food is kept in the store houses. The store houses were filled with food in the past by the builders.
At the age of 12 all children are assigned a job to do. The jobs are assigned by drawing a the job title out of a hat. Lina wants to get the job of messenger. Doon wants to get a job working in the power stations of the city. When Lina draws out the job of pipe works and Doon gets the job of messenger.
Doon asks Lina to trade with him. He feels that pipe works is better than messenger at least it will get him closer to the power plant. Doon feels that if he can get into the power plant he can finally understand electricity. Electricity is one of the few things that he feels that he does not understand.
When Doon finally gets into the power plant he sees a loud coughing machine that he feels he will never understand.
As messenger Lina runs around the city delivering messages from one person to another.
The lights of Ember are no longer staying lit like they should. The power plant is getting run down. The lights of Ember are starting to go black in the middle of the day and the citizens of Ember are frightened. Lina spends most of her day sending messages to people simply so they do not have to leave there homes and have to risk being put in the dark when the lights go out.
Lina's grandmother unearths an old parchment and that parchment ends up in the hands of Lina's baby sister. The baby sister plays with the parchment tearing and chewing it into little pieces. When Lina finds the paper in the hands of her baby sister it is unreadable. The only thing that she can tell is that it is written in the fine block print of the builders. She feels that the message is important.
Lina and Doon spend the rest of the book trying to solve the mysteries of the parchment. The other people that they show the parchment to don't seem to think that it is all that important. From what little they can make out of the document most people feel that it is simply some sort of cooking instructions or something.
While Lina and Doon are trying to solve the parchment, the city of Ember is slowly falling apart. The people of Ember know that something needs to be done but no one seems to know what needs to be done. Is the answer in the strange almost unreadable parchment?
This book is definitely written for a younger reader but I still really enjoyed it. I read the book in two days. I barely put it down the entire time I was reading. I even went on to read the first part of "The Children of Spark" (second book in the series) that was in the back of the book. I later went out and bought the other three books that go with the city of Ember series. This book is great for a young reader and simply fun for an adult reader like myself.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The City Under Ground?
Comment: I have just purchased this book, but the description sounds startlingly similar to Suzanne Martel's "The City Under Ground" -- which is the book I was looking for because I remember reading it back in the 70's and thought my kids would enjoy it now.
Martel's is out of print. I'll edit my star count after reading the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: audio
Comment: Excellent way to share a story for a mini-study to students in the classroom without having to purchase a classroom set of books.
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Editorial Reviews:
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NOW A MAJOR motion picture starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Saoirse Ronan, and Harry Treadaway! This tie-in edition of The City of Ember features a movie-art cover and an 8-page photo insert. Jeanne DuPrau’s instant classic tells the story of the great, underground city of Ember, designed as a last refuge for the human race. But when the storerooms run out of food and the lights begin to fail, it’s up to two teens, Lina and Doon, to decipher the fragments of an ancient parchment and find a way out of Ember.
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