Reading: City of Ember, People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau

"There is so much darkness in Ember, Lina. It's not just outside, it's inside us, too. Everyone has some darkness inside. It's like a hungry creature. It wants and wants and wants with a terrible power. And the more you give it, the bigger and hungrier it gets." -Jeanne Duprau

Title: City of Ember (1), People of Sparks (2)

Author: Jeanne Duprau

Publisher: Yearling

Published:2003

In my effort to catch up on some 5th grade favorites this summer, I read the first two books of this series. It came highly recommended by a 5th grader I tutored last year and I was interested to see how dystopian future novels look for the middle grades.

I enjoyed City of Ember. It was smart and interesting and had a cool twist at the end. It moved at a pretty decent pace and had that fun mystery with the letter from the beginning of the book. Not having read middle grade books for quite some time, I really appreciated the non-romantic nature of the relationships in the book and how friendship and cleverness pushed the story along.

People of Sparks had a totally different message and one that I'd argue is even more important than City of Ember. What happens when misunderstandings and hostility brews? How can we help our fellow man? Why do we turn on one another? It was such a great study in these things in the microcosm of the town that takes in the people of Ember. I enjoyed it as a true study of human nature.

Overall, I think the books are pretty good reads for young kids, but I can see how occasionally the morality is heavy handed and kids catch on to that. I'm definitely adding it to my classroom library in the hopes my students will pick it up. (but I'm not hooked enough to finish off the series myself)

#nerd #book #middlegrade #teaching #distopian