Tag Archives: Jeanne DuPrau

Mar4

Recent Reads

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I agree 100% with April (currently known as “Ms. Vodka Tonic”) about Girls Poker Night. I laughed at loud at much of the story because it was quite hysterical, but there was also a deeper and more serious message about how hard it is to quit the “self-preservation” thing and take some risks.

Please read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I applaud my two coworkers for shoving this book down my throat. They were right about it being a science fiction book for those who don’t really like the science fiction genre. It’s timely because it really makes you think about that age-old question….War, what is it good for? I’m serious here. Great surprise ending when the blobby space creature swallows the human’s space ship whole. No–I’m just kidding, that’s not how it ends. It actually ends when the alien called Razzo-Razzo accidentally swallows a laser sword and is able to purchase the Energizer Bunny with the money he makes as a giant reading lamp for all the compulsive readers in the world. ha ha Just kidding again.

Thanks to my fellow Hip Librarians for recommending The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. I fell in love with it from page one, read it in two days and just handed it to one of my favorite 9 year old patrons. I’m now eagerly awaiting her review. I’m sure it will be a winner! I agree with April about the hopeful ending. After I finished the book I couldn’t stop thinking about what the characters would name all of the things that they didn’t have names for.

Oct27

City of Ember & The Slippery Slope

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City of Ember & The Slippery Slope

DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. Yearling, 2004. ISBN 978-0375822742 270 pp. $8.99

*****

I just finished City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau and it is an amazing first novel. The book has been floundering about in my library and I had been putting off reading it until a parent cam ein raving about how her two kids loved it so I figured I’d take it home. Twelve year old Lina lives in the city of Ember, a world of perpetual night. The only illlumination is in the form of floodlights around the city beyond which is only darkness. As the book progresses, twelve year old Lina and her friend Doon discover some of the dark secrets of the city and begin to fear that it will not last for much longer. The one generator is failing, no one understands how electricity works, food and supplies are running short and the blackouts are becoming more frequent. With the discovery of an old set of instructions, the pair set out to determine its meaning and possibly a way out of Ember.

Another take on City of Ember!

Snicket, Lemony. The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10). Harper, 2003. ISBN 978-0064410137 352 pp. $13.99

I also recently read the 10th Lemony Snicket book The Slippery Slope. I just wanted to share my favorite line from it: “I know that having a good vocabulary doesn’t guarantee that I’m a good person, “ the boy said. “But it does mean that I’ve read a great deal. And in my experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil.” Here, here.