#City of ember book pdf how to#

The insight that this version of that universal story led me to is part of the answer to why childishness is a necessary component of the transformation. What we think of as the whole universe is but shadow, and further, that to enter that “kingdom of heaven” you must be like a child. This book reworks the universal theme of Plato’s cave, and of all mysticism. And finally, there is the adventure of eventual escape. So the bulk of the story is the deciphering of the message, followed by the experience of trying to communicate its contents to the adults, who of course don’t accept the message (where else is there but here?) which is the equivalent of all prophets experiences of rejection by the status-quo. Well, being a young adult novel it’s pretty predictable in that the box is in our hero’s closet, but a nice turn of events it is found by our hero’s baby sister who chews on it for a while before our hero gets her hands on it leaving the message is only partially legible.

#City of ember book pdf how to#

The reader is in on a worse calamity, namely, that a secret message in a timed lock box that was left by the Builders, which was meant to be handed down from mayor to mayor and that would open just in time to explain to the city dwellers how to get out of the city, was lost many generations back. The problem is that the city is falling apart, the lights are going out, the vast stores of supplies of light bulbs, canned food, and vitamins are running out. The story is of a girl who lives in an underground and completely self-contained city created by the “Builders.” The population of the city knows of nothing outside the city, in fact, though they speak English many of the words in it like “sky” are not understood in any terms but metaphorically. The City of Ember is a young adult novel that is a fantastic allegory for spiritual awakening, though I have no idea if it was intended as such. It's nice to have that in a kid's book.Īnyway.

If only the boy would have told his father about X, things would have gone better. The boy gets angry sometimes, and his father talks to him about it, and the boy tries throughout the book to get a grip on his anger with varying success. Their own problems they struggle to resolve. They each have their own plots, and their own character arcs. Two POV characters, one boy and one girl. That's a recommendation beyond anything I can give it.Ībout a week ago, I went on a car trip with Oot, and we listened to this book together. Then, of his own volition while walking through the hallway, he'd pulled it off the shelf, sat down, and started to read it again. He'd read it with his mom a over a month's worth of bedtimes. He wasn't just flipping through a picture book, either. Maybe 18 months ago, I came out of my office to find my 5 year old son laying in the hallway reading a book. But they agree on walks, naps, and trips in the car to surprise destinations. Ethan is not very fond of reading, for example, and Jeanne doesn't much like chasing squirrels. Jeanne and Ethan get along well, though their interests are different. Jeanne DuPrau doesn't have children, but she has two nephews, a niece, and a dog. She lives in California, where it's easy to grow everything from apples to zinnias. Jeanne DuPrau doesn't write every minute of every day. So far, she has written four novels, six books of nonfiction, and quite a few essays and stories. So many words to choose from! So many different things that could happen in a story at any moment! Writing is one tough decision after another.īut it's also the most satisfying thing she knows how to do. This gives her courage, because she finds writing very hard. She has this quote taped to her wall: 'A writer is someone for whom writing is harder than it is for other people' (Thomas Mann). Jeanne DuPrau spends several hours of every day at her computer, thinking up sentences.