The City of Ember Book Reflection

DuPrau, J. (2003). The city of ember. New York: Random House.

      Since reading The Hunger Games trilogy a few years back and absolutely loving it, I find myself continually searching for books that are similar, books that describe a futuristic world, especially post apocalyptic scenarios. When I was younger, I loved books from the realistic fiction genre, but now I favor reading modern fantasy mixed in with some science fiction. Stories with these types of settings have also been categorized as futuristic fiction. The idea of a futuristic world very different from our own is what drew me to the The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The setting, or time period in which this story is told, was very intriguing to me as the characters live in darkness. Forced to live deep underground out of fear  of war and destruction on the Earth's surface, Ember City was constucted to be completely on self sufficient on their electric power and the supplies for 200 years. When we meet the main characters Linna and Doon, we learn that time is running out, as  they have stretched their resources for 241 years. There a multiple power outages and supplies are limited, creating great worry amongst the Community. In very similar fashion to The Giver,  Linna and Doon are assigned jobs, however they do not like the ones they are given so they switch, Linna becomes a messenger and Doon is a pipe worker. When Linna discovers a mysterious message that she is unable to decipher, she and Doon pair up to unlock the mystery of Ember City and hopefully, unlock a solution for the impending permanent darkness.
      DePrau's work does not stop with The City of Ember, she went on to publish three other books to complete the series. Intended to be on a fifth grade reading level, I can see myself using this book in my seventh grade classroom for students who are below grade level in reading. I think this would be a great book to teach and discuss setting. Some of the big questions I would use could be: What do you think Ember City will do to prepare for the final power outage? Do you think they will leave the City? Do you think it was a good idea for Doon and Linna to switch jobs? The City of Ember was also made into a motion picture film, I have not seen it, but this could be a great tie in to the ELA Common Core standard that requires you to compare a literary work using multiple media formats. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It does remind me a lot of The Giver and I remember reading/enjoying while I was in middle school.

Common Core Standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).