For this meeting, you should have completed the book. Here are our discussion questions for this meeting:
1. Doon and Lina like very different things. Doon wants to work in the Pipeworks; Lina yearns to be a messenger. Doon likes to study how things work. Lina likes to run and explore. Their friendship grows because they are ultimately searching for the same thing. How do they compliment one another and help one another develop through the novel?
2. Earth today has many environmental and social issues. What sort of problems could have led to the building of the City of Ember?
3. Clary tells Lina, "Everyone has some darkness inside," (p. 168). Light and color both play very key roles in the novel. In what ways, other than the failing street lamps, are color and light very important?
4. The possibility of never-ending darkness changes many of Lina's friends and many of the townspeople. She discovers that her friend Lizzie has begun to accept things from Looper, who is stealing things from the storerooms. Why does Lina turn down the gifts that Lizzie offers her? Do you think she was right to do so?
5. The City of Ember was built when people were worried that the human race might not survive. Do you think this was a good plan?
6. The mayor is the most corrupt character in the novel. He squelches the thirst for knowledge and limits freedom, yet the majority of the townspeople just accept his behavior. Why do you think they act this way? What other actions might they have taken?
7. People react in various ways when they feel threatened. How do the people of Ember react to danger? Have you seen people reacting to danger in these ways? How are Poppy's reactions important to the plot?
8. At the end of the novel, Lina, Doon, and Poppy have discovered a sunlit Earth. What do you think will become of them in the sequel? Do you think that there are other people on the surface?
9. The sequel to this book is entitled: The People of Sparks. What does the title tell you about the sequel? What might happen in the sequel to The City of Ember?
Don't forget our viewing party on Friday 1-30 at 3:30 in the library. Bring your own snacks! See you then!
Our next book club read will be Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. This is the first in a series of action adventure books centered around the character Alex Rider. After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
Posts
