Adventurous fictional book containing a lot of suspense and action with unexpected turns. Easy read. ( )

Independent Reading Level: 5-6
Awards/Honors: N/A ( )

the audio version is absolutely fun! I loved all the sound effects to go along with the story!!!

I wish I had read this BEFORE I'd seen the movie, as I think the movie spoiled much of the magic of the book by revealing too many secrets upfront.

Still, a great book! ( )

Independent Reading Level: Grades 3-5
Awards:
Nominated to 28 State Awards Lists
An American Library Association Notable Children's Book
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection
A Kirkus Reviews Editors' Choice
A Child Maganize Best Children's Book
A Mark Twain Award Winner
A William Allen White Children's Book Award Winner

Not bad for Middle Grade genre. I enjoyed the story, but I'm still quite "in the dark" (if you'll excuse by terrible pun) on just what is going on. I will consider reading another book if it works into my challenges! ( )

I really enjoyed the plot in this book, it had a really high potential but I just don't think the author executed it to its full capacity. I read a few fanfictions about this book, and it really captivated me to read more. Although this book was good, it could have been so much better. ( )

Independent Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Awards: Nebraska Golden Sower Award (Nominee — 2006)
Young Hoosier Book Award (Winner — Intermediate — 2006)
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 2006)
Massachusetts Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2007)
Commonwealth Club of California Book Awards (Winner — Young Adult — 2003)
Sequoyah Book Award (Nominee — Children's — 2006)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Nominee — 2006)
Triple Crown Awards (Winner — 2006)
Georgia Children's Book Award (Finalist — 2008)
Great Stone Face Book Award (Nominee — 2005)
Utah Beehive Book Award (Winner — Children's Fiction — 2005)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 3-5 — 2006)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2005)
Sasquatch Book Award (Nominee — 2006)
Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (Honor Book — 2006)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2006)
Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2007)
William Allen White Children's Book Award (Winner — Grades 6-8 — 2006)
William Allen White Children's Book Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2005-2006)
Nutmeg Book Award (Winner — Intermediate — 2006)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee)
Iowa Teen Award (Nominee — 2006)
Bluestem Award (Nominee — 2019)
Mark Twain Readers Award (Winner — 2006)
Sunshine State Young Reader's Award (Winner — 2005)
Nēnē Award (Nominee — 2008, 2009)
Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature (Honor Book — 2004)
Nevada Young Readers' Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2006)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Winner — Grades 6-8 — 2006)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — Teen — 2006)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee — 2008)
Land Of Enchantment Book Award (Winner — Young Adult — 2007)
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Winner — Grades 6-9 — 2006)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Juvenile Books — 2006)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2006)
Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Nominee — 2006)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2005)
South Carolina Book Awards (Nominee — Junior Book Award — 2007)

This book is a great book for middle schoolers because it adds concepts of science and fiction to keep the readers engaged in what they are reading. This book is full of adventure and is exciting, while it also educational. It is a great book to use for a read-aloud. ( )

Sometimes you need a YA to cleanse the palate..... ( )

It's a world with no sun, lit only by electricity. But the generator is dying and the citizens of Ember don't know what to do. 12-year-old Lina discovers an ancient document that may be the secret to surviving Ember's decay, but time is running out. This book's a page turner, a mystery, and a thought-provoker. ( )

I'm tempted to attribute the dumbed down world building, logic flaws, and flat characters to the fact that this is written as children's literature, but I've read far too many excellent stories in that category to accept that children don't need or deserve better. Much of the ignorance of the people of Ember is explained at the end - that the adults who were chosen to populate that world were under strict orders to not pass on knowledge of the world before, but that just seems like a cop-out to me. Children ask questions, and their caregivers didn't have anyone preventing them from answering after they were dropped off in Ember. There was no satisfactory explanation for why the Builders demanded that their history be erased. In fact, it's nonsensical, if they expected that their descendants would need to emerge from Ember and re-integrate into the outside world some 200 years later. This is just one of the many logical flaws that kept me disengaged from the book. The characters and their relationships with one another had no depth. Lina feels very little grief for her grandmother, and forgets her death almost immediately. She seems to feel very little for her sister except concern when the child wanders off and is lost. When she refuses to leave Ember without her sister later, it seems borne of a sense of responsibility rather than any actual connection. She might as well have been refusing to leave without her only pair of shoes. I finished the story mostly because it was on audio and kept me company while doing some chores around the house, but if I had been actually reading the book, I probably would have put it down halfway through and not picked it up again. ( )

This book is full of mystery and suspense, making it an excellent read which explores resilience, teamwork and the consequences of human actions. ( )

What a unique, fun story! Admittedly, I haven’t read that many dystopian or sci-fi books, so I could be wrong about my assessment of the book, but it felt like one of the most unique settings I’ve ever found myself in inside a book. DuPrau did an amazing job creating this story world, and I had a lot of fun exploring it through the eyes of the characters. The characters themselves were also dynamic, a little foolish at times, and courageous—everything you could want in good characters, really.

I was engrossed in the story from nearly the first page, and I had a hard time putting the book down when I had to go do other things. I may or may not have invented jobs for myself just so I could keep listening—I love it when a book does that to me!

I didn’t agree with everything in the story. It had a feminist slant (the female characters were expected to work alongside and do the same things the men did), and that bothered me a little. There was also some dishonesty and sneaking around that went on that didn’t sit so well with me.

But overall, this was a fun, engaging story with a slight mystery element and a strong emphasis on friendship and working together for the greater good. I loved it, and all three brothers I’ve shared it with since I read the book also enjoyed it. Recommended. ( )

This is the 2nd book I've read in this genre in a short period of time, and at first, it reminded me a lot of The Giver. It quickly becomes its own story with a very different theme, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did The Giver, though for different reasons. The slow falling apart of the city and the vastly varying ways the citizens respond to it are fascinating to follow along with. Lina and Doon are well-crafted characters, both with their own issues and driving desires. They even have considerably different reasons for wanting to save the city, and I really admire DuPrau's ability to make them such well-rounded characters in a short space. I also appreciate how she explains items that are common, everyday things to us but are completely foreign to these people.

I'm looking forward to my 12-year-old daughter reading this book so we can discuss it. I think she'll enjoy it as much as I did, and I recommend it for others around that age (or older) too. ( )

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to dim. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. Now, she and her friend Doon must race to figure out the clues to keep the lights on. If they succeed, they will have to convince everyone to follow them into danger. But if they fail? The lights will burn out and the darkness will close in forever.

I really really love the idea of a post-disaster society of people living underground. And I especially love the idea of reading about that society several generations in, where they no longer remember what daylight is, or why the city they live in is theren- or even where exactly their city is. I like the idea of this society making up their own myths about 'the dark' and having new origin stories and singing songs amid candles lit against the ever-present night. However, all those enchanting pieces of The City of Ember are just tiny footnote details in what's really a fairly decent adventure story. The setting of an underground sort of steampunk like society surviving post-collapse without any connections to their past is merely the place where this book begins. I really enjoyed this story, and am excited to read more in the series, but I wish this book had been about twice as long and had about three times the depth. I really feel like the author here was on the verge of creating a whole new world, maybe not with the intricacy and pull of the Harry Potter universe, but something heading in that direction. Instead everything - setting and plot and characters et cetera - is at a pretty basic level and merely serves as the dressing around the main story, which is a somewhat didactical examination of the ills of society and scarcity mentality hidden inside an engaging adventure story of two plucky pre-teens trying to save their people.

I watched the movie before I read the book. Usually I am disappointed, but this time I was pleasantly surprised! Even though there were quite a few differences between the movie and the book, I really did enjoy the book. I found it to be very light and easy reading. It is difficult for me to say anything about the plot ect as I already knew what was going to happen. I am looking forward to read the next in the series. ( )

I would have rated this 4 1/2 stars if I were able to on Goodreads. This is another book that I read because my son's class was reading it aloud. Wow. As an adult, I really enjoyed the book. Having said that, I understand why my 9 year old called it "disturbing." The notion of an underground city where supplies are dwindling and total darkness threatens to engulf everyone is pretty heavy for a third grader. I like the fact that it introduced some ideas of conservation, and I liked the problem-solving attitudes of the young main characters. The end left me with a fresh appreciation for the world we live in, and that can't be a bad thing. ( )

I first read this series when it was first published and really liked them. This audiobook was well done and I enjoyed revisiting the story.

FROM AMAZON: The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever! This stunning debut novel offers refreshingly clear writing and fascinating, original characters. ( )

A dying city underground with no knowledge of what once was, and a young duo hell bent on seeking a way out to a better place. The first book in the ember series captures your attention from start to finish. ( )

We really liked this one. Wonderful story for boys or girls. Held the boys interest very well. They immediately wanted to read the next one. ( )

So, I'm late to the game on this one, but I had to chime in. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was clean, had likable characters, and for some reason it made me think of a kids' version of "The Village. ( )

So, I'm late to the game on this one, but I had to chime in. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was clean, had likable characters, and for some reason it made me think of a kids' version of "The Village. ( )

My daughter asked me to read this book because she liked it a lot. It's one of the better books she has recommended me lol It is about two 13 year olds, a boy and a girl, who live in a strange city with strange customs and ways of living. (But it doesn't have magic or fancy technology, so I guess it's technically not fantasy or sci-fi.) The city infrastructure is deteriorating and resource is running out, so the book depicts how people react as the end of the world seems to draw nearer and nearer. Some reactions are not pretty. The builders of the city 200 years ago had left a message that tells residents how to leave the city, but the message got lost over the years, and within the first 100 pages of the book the 13-year-old girl finds it. She enlists the help of the boy to figure out what the message means. It's pretty fun to read. The ending is satisfying. At the end of the day I think the story is about the wonder and beauty of our natural world. ( )

Slowly progressing plotline and not as riveting as similar young adult novels. ( )