City of Ember

City of Ember (and its sequel, People of Sparks) are two children's books written by Jeanne DuPrau. Ember is built at some point in the near future, when some unspecified event or problem threatens to kill off the human race. The builders plan for a 200-year stay for the residents, and leave behind instructions for when and how to get out of the city. Unfortunately, one of the city's mayors tries to open the sealed instruction box early, damages it, and then hides it to cover his tracks. When the box finally opens, no one notices.

The story centers around two teens who are "graduating" from school. One wants to be a messenger because she likes to travel around the city, and the other wants to work in the generator area because he hopes he can fix it. People have been living in Ember for at least 40 years longer than the builders had planned, and the generator is failing. Supplies are running out as well, and no one has any real idea how to resolve the situation.

We read this for my homeschoolers' book discussion group, and people generally liked it.
 
Seldes Katne said:
City of Ember (and its sequel, People of Sparks) are two children's books written by Jeanne DuPrau. Ember is built at some point in the near future, when some unspecified event or problem threatens to kill off the human race. The builders plan for a 200-year stay for the residents, and leave behind instructions for when and how to get out of the city. Unfortunately, one of the city's mayors tries to open the sealed instruction box early, damages it, and then hides it to cover his tracks. When the box finally opens, no one notices.

The story centers around two teens who are "graduating" from school. One wants to be a messenger because she likes to travel around the city, and the other wants to work in the generator area because he hopes he can fix it. People have been living in Ember for at least 40 years longer than the builders had planned, and the generator is failing. Supplies are running out as well, and no one has any real idea how to resolve the situation.

We read this for my homeschoolers' book discussion group, and people generally liked it.
Click to expand...

I think there was a prequel as well, but I'm not sure...

Wait, when you say "generally" does that mean you didn't like it?
 
Seldes Katne said:
City of Ember (and its sequel, People of Sparks) are two children's books written by Jeanne DuPrau. Ember is built at some point in the near future, when some unspecified event or problem threatens to kill off the human race. The builders plan for a 200-year stay for the residents, and leave behind instructions for when and how to get out of the city. Unfortunately, one of the city's mayors tries to open the sealed instruction box early, damages it, and then hides it to cover his tracks. When the box finally opens, no one notices.

The story centers around two teens who are "graduating" from school. One wants to be a messenger because she likes to travel around the city, and the other wants to work in the generator area because he hopes he can fix it. People have been living in Ember for at least 40 years longer than the builders had planned, and the generator is failing. Supplies are running out as well, and no one has any real idea how to resolve the situation.

We read this for my homeschoolers' book discussion group, and people generally liked it.
Click to expand...
Sounds awesome.
 
Grocer Man said:
Wait, when you say "generally" does that mean you didn't like it?
Click to expand...
No, it just meant that we thought there were a few holes in the premise. None of them spoiled the book, and I doubt most people would have noticed them.

We also spent a lot of time comparing and contrasting the Ember society with our current society, and some of the differences ended up being rather amusing. (Like grouping their library books by words in the title that started with the same letter, rather than by subject, for example.)
 
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