A middle grade mystery/adventure, The City of Ember follows Lina and Doon, two children who live in an underground city called Ember. Throughout the story, things in Ember are bleak—and getting bleaker. There are huge storerooms full of supplies like canned goods and lightbulbs, but those are depleting rapidly. Stores are only open on certain days of the week, and they often close early because they have nothing to sell. It’s clear that Ember is a dying city: there is nothing being produced.
Throughout the course of the story, Lina and Doon are assigned their jobs—messenger for the city and worker in the pipeworks. At the same time, Lina discovers a mysterious note hidden in her ailing grandmother’s supplies. Lina and Doon work to find allies and expose the mayor and others who are hoarding supplies. But more important than that, they have to solve a mystery that could lead the people of Ember out of the dying city.
The problem is that everything in the city seems designed to prohibit critical thinking skills and discourage curiosity. Jobs are assigned; workers take shortcuts to find time to play silly games or gossip; no books exist, only things written by residents of Ember who have no clue what they are really talking about. Moreover, everyone is more concerned about the frequent blackouts than finding out what the actual problem is. By the end of the story, many citizens are left cowering in their homes.
The book is meant for middle grade readers, so some of the clues are repeated, but this is just the sort of book I would have loved in elementary and early middle school. The tension in the book continues to be strong throughout, making it a page turner. It’s the first in a series, and I could definitely see young readers pestering their parents to acquire a copy of the next book in the series as soon as possible!
All in all, a fun read.
In my Hollow Oak series, my main character, Sarah, finds herself going into a near trance while playing the violin. Doing so relaxes her mind enough that she becomes receptive to the things around her that normal “adults” tend to ignore. (At this time of year, I’m reminded of the bell that rings for children but not for adults in The Polar Express.) This ability opens her to experiences closed to everyone around her—sending her on a supernatural wild goose chase to find out the mystery of a late custodian and her relationship to the town’s sordid history.
Anyway, I read it aloud to my daughter, even though she is too young to really understand stories. As the introduction explains, Waffles and Pancakes have already had two adventures. They are hamsters and friends. This time, their young owners react when Hurricane Sandy brings destruction to the local area and threatens Christmas. The book is for children, and it takes only a matter of minutes to read (the age range listed is 4-8; I downloaded it for my daughter, even though she isn’t quite there yet).
