The City of Ember

For the 2008 film based on this book, see City of Ember.

For the capital city of Scotland, see Embra.

The City of Ember

Author	Jeanne DuPrau
Language	English
Series	The Book of Ember series
Genre	Young adult, Science fiction, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Random House/Yearling
Publication date	May 2003
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	288
ISBN	0375822739
OCLC	50166630
Dewey Decimal	[Fic] 21
LC Class	PZ7.D927 Ci 2003
Followed by	The People of Sparks

The City of Ember is a post-apocalyptic novel by Jeanne DuPrau that was Template:Lityear. The story is about the titular city of Ember, an underground city that is slowly running out of power and supplies, due to the aging infrastructure of the city. The young protagonist, Lina Mayfleet, and her friend, Doon Harrow, manage to decode a message that would lead them to safety in the outside world of Earth.

It was later adapted into a film, produced by Walden Media and Playtone, released on October 10, 2008. City of Ember was released on DVD on January 20, 2009.

It is the first book in the Books of Ember series which also includes The People of Sparks, The Prophet of Yonwood, and The Diamond of Darkhold.

Plot

The post apocalyptic story starts after a terrible war. The only humans left are in a city called Ember which has been built underground to protect them. The world's top architects and engineers (a.k.a. The Builders) designed a complex underground city with a generator, pipes, electric system, and so on. As the builders were designing the underground city, they realized that the canned food and mechanized life-support system would only last for a set length of time. To deal with this concern, the builders left instructions on how to escape the underground city. Of course, the builders did not want to make escaping too easy, and nor did they want the people in the town to leave at any time. The builders wanted the people to stay safely underground until it would be safe to come up to the surface again. The instructions on how to escape were put in a special strongbox, that would open in 200 years, and the idea was that each mayor would pass on the box to the next mayor. However, the box became lost in one of the passings. But the town leaders were not overly concerned about the loss of the box, because no one had any knowledge of what it was or what it contained.

The story then fast-forwards over two centuries in the future. We are in the year 241 of the city of Ember. It is clear that the town is the worse for wear after two centuries. Its infrastructure is crumbling and creaking, including the massive generator which provides light and power for the city. The underground city's sole source of light--the floodlamps--is being threatened by power shortages and blackouts. Moreover, the stockpiles of canned food are getting low. The residents worry that if the power generators fail, then the lights will go out.

The story focuses in on a graduation ceremony in which young people are assigned their jobs for their working lives. Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, two of the students, each pull a slip from a bag. Her slip says “Pipeworks Laborer”. Doon gets a slip labelled “Messenger.” Doon is unhappy at being a messenger, because his dream was to have a job in the electrical plant, so that he could find out more about the mysterious generator. The two friends decide to switch jobs. When Doon reports to his job in the pipeworks, he quickly realizes that he does not know anything about the generator or how it works. Lina is happy in her job as a messenger. She runs to and from in the city delivering messages. She even has the privilege of delivering a message straight to the Mayor. A strange man named Looper asked her to send a message to the Mayor.

Lina lives with her elderly grandmother and her little sister, a toddler named Poppy. One day, Lina finds her sister playing with an old piece of paper in an old box that she found amidst the chaotic mess of the apartment. Before Lina can stop the toddler, the child starts chewing on the scraps of paper. Lina tries to flatten out the scraps and figure out what they mean. She knows the box is old, but she does not know what it is, and nor does she know what the message is about. She asks Doon to look at the message. Together, they decipher the text: it is instructions on how to escape from the City of Ember. While the two friends are exploring the tunnels in the pipeworks trying to find the exit, they meet Looper, the strange man who had asked Lina to send a message to the mayor. The two friends learn that Looper is embezzling canned food and other supplies and stockpiling them. When the pair try to report Looper's thefts, the Mayor orders them arrested (which suggests that the Mayor is involved). Lina, Doon, and Poppy decide to make their escape by using an underground river.

When the boat stops, they see the natural world with the wind, the sky, and the moon, and they find an old journal. The journal explains why Ember was built. The Builders decided to create an underground city to protect 100 adults and 100 children. The goal was to ensure that the human race would survive. Peering through an opening in the cave, the friends are shocked to see the dim, glimmering lights far below of the city of Ember. Doon and Lina wrote a note that explained how to exit the city using the underground river. Then they threw the note into the hole, so that it would fall down into Ember. Fortunately, Mrs. Murdo finds the note, and uses it to help the people escape from the crumbling, failing underground city.

Characters

Main Characters

• Lina Mayfleet
• Doon Harrow

Supporting Characters

• The Mayor
• Lizzie - Lina's best friend
• Looper - Lizzie's boyfriend
• Poppy Mayfleet - Lina's little sister
• Granny Mayfleet - Lina's grandmother
• Mrs. Murdo - The caretaker of Lina and Poppy when their grandmother dies

Film adaptation

Main article: City of Ember

A film adaptation of the novel was produced by Walden Media and Playtone, with Bill Murray as the mayor, Saoirse Ronan as Lina, and Harry Treadaway as Doon. Filming was finished in October 2007 and one year later, the film was released on October 10, 2008. City of Ember was released on DVD on January 20, 2009.

Awards

• 2006 Mark Twain Award

External links

• Jeanne DuPrau's website
• The Map of the City of Ember