City of Ember: Week Three

This week, we come to the end of The City of Ember. We read from Chapter 15: A Desperate Run to the end of the book! 

Questions to Ponder/Answer:
1. The City of Ember is filled with symbols! Consider one symbol that seems incredibly important to the story. Maybe you'll choose to look at the Moth? The bean sprouts? The letter? The pineapple? Choose one and try to write long about it. What does it mean? Does it mean the same thing each time it appears? Why do you think Jeanne DuPrau chose to include this symbol in the book?

2. The three songs the citizens of Ember sing in Chapter 16: The Singing are all quite different from each other. Think about The Song of the City, The Song of the River and the Song of Darkness. Why do you think the citizens sing the three different song? What might each song symbolize? Do you think the order of the songs is important? 

3. The ending of The City of Ember just filled me with wonder. What are you wondering about at the end of the book? Why? Do you think the ending is hopeful? Why do you think Jeanne DuPrau would have chosen to end her book at this point!

4. Think deeply about the theory you've been following over the book. How has your theory changed? How has your theory helped you understand the book more deeply? 


If you enjoyed The City of Ember, be sure to check out the other books in the Ember series. You can find information about all the books here. 


If you have a question for Jeanne DuPrau after reading the book, you can EMAIL HER! This page has her contact information. She said she will try to get back to everyone, but it might take her a while. If you email her and get a response, post it here so that we can all read it!


DID YOU KNOW The City of Ember was made into a MOVIE? Watch the trailer! Perhaps we can watch the movie together in the fall? 

REMEMBER to check back often! Read other responses. Ask other readers questions! Answer questions that are asked. The more you visit and comment, the more interesting our conversation will be!

Next week, we begin The Sisters' Grimm! Be prepared for more fairy tale allusions than you've ever encountered before! 

City of Ember: Week Two

This is our second week reading The City of Ember, the first Book of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau. This week, read from A Message Full of Holes (Page 93) through The Way Out (Page 192).

READING TIP: On page 94 of The City of Ember, Lina discovers something terribly important. Once I noticed this message, I got a post-it note (a second bookmark), and I left it on the page. That way, I could return to the message Lina found again and again. This helped me because then I didn't have to waste time searching for the message. 

Secret Message: Lina tries to decode the secret message that she finds, and she really struggles to make sense of it. Here's another secret message. Try it out! Can you decode the message? Click HERE to give it a go!

The Greenhouse: Clary has an incredibly important role in Ember as head of the greenhouse. I know you learned a lot about how plants grow when you worked with Patty this year. If you want to learn more, here are some sites you can visit. This site has a game you can play to determine the exact balance of resources a plant needs. Here's a visual from the Weather Channel that shows how greenhouses work on Earth (although perhaps not in Ember). If you want to try growing some of your own plants from materials you might have around your house, visit this site. 

Questions to Ponder/Respond to: 

1. Lina shares "The Instructions" with many different citizens of Ember. Study their reactions to "The Instructions" closely. What can you learn about the characters from studying their reactions? For example, how does Doon respond? The Mayor? Captain Fleery? Lizzie? 

2. Lina makes a major decision on page 153. What does that decision reveal about her character? What does it help you understand about the kind of place Ember is? 

3. What major symbols are you noticing that repeat again and again throughout the book? 

4. What questions do YOU have for the group? Post a question in the comments, and we can respond to your question with our own ideas. Think about the smart questions you would ask your book club! For example, last week Max wondered about why the residents of Ember don't recognize where they are. When he asked that question, I thought more deeply about that idea. 

Keep reading and responding to the comments other people post! Your fellow readers have some FASCINATING ideas that will really make you think. Ask them questions. Ask for their evidence. Add your own thoughts and opinions. 

City of Ember: Week One

This is our first week reading The City of Ember, the first Book of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau. This week, read from The Instructions (before page 1) through The Box in the Closet (Page 92).

Generators: Doon takes Lina's job down in Pipeworks because he wants to figure out how the generator works and try to solve Ember's problems. Read up to see if you can find any information that could help Doon. Here's a little bit about how generators work. Here's some information about how electricity works. The Power Kids is another fun site that will teach you more about electricity and energy.

City of Ember: Ember is a large city, and it's certainly an unfamiliar city to all of us. Here's a map to the City of Ember. You can access the map by putting the puzzle pieces together, and then you can get an up-close view of all the places Lina and Doon talk about. Here's the map.

Book Trailer: Often now on Youtube, there are "book trailers" for books that you read. These are kind of like movie trailers, and they give you a preview of what the book will be about. Here's one trailer:

Here's another trailer for the book. This one was made by two students. It really helps you get inside the main characters' minds.

Questions to Ponder/Respond to: 
1. Several events early on help us to understand Lina and Doon and the kinds of characters they are. Some key events that stand out to me are: the choosing of jobs, Lina and Doon switching jobs, Lina dancing on the roof, and Lina caring for her grandma and little sister. What do these events already reveal about our main characters? What kinds of people are they?

2. We're about one-third of the way through the book. What big theory are you already growing about the book? Make your theory go beyond the book so that it tells a big idea you are growing.

3. The setting in the "City of Ember" is a lot different than the setting in an Amber Brown book. An Amber Brown book could take place in almost any school, and the setting doesn't matter so much. But in "City of Ember," the setting is terribly important. Ember isn't just any old place. What kind of place is Ember? You might say "Ember is the kind of place where...." and push yourself to write a few sentences about it.

Keep reading and responding to the comments other people post! Your fellow readers have some FASCINATING ideas that will really make you think. Ask them questions. Ask for their evidence. Add your own thoughts and opinions. 

Remember that whatever you post in the "Comment" section goes on the internet and other readers can read it. That means, you should try to use the best spelling, punctuation and capitalization that you can.