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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2004, 338 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2005, 352 pages
The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn't long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town's resources are limited and it isn’t long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it's up to Lina and Doon to discover who's behind the vandalism and why, before it's too late.
Chapter 1
What Torren Saw
Torren was out at the edge of the cabbage field that day, the day the
people came. He was supposed to be fetching a couple of cabbages for Dr.
Hester to use in the soup that night, but, as usual, he didn't see why
he shouldn't have some fun while he was at it. So he climbed up the wind
tower, which he wasn't supposed to do because, they said, he might fall
or get his head sliced off by the big blades going round and round.
The wind tower was four-sided, made of boards nailed one above the next
like the rungs of a ladder. Torren climbed the back side of it, the side
that faced the hills and not the village, so that the little group of
workers hoeing the cabbage rows wouldn't see him. At the top, he turned
around and sat on the flat place behind the blades, which turned slowly
in the idle summer breeze. He had...
TEACHING IDEAS
Pre-Reading Activities
The City of Ember Pre-Reading Activity:
Mock Assignment Day–Explain that today is "Assignment Day" and students will get
a job placement that will determine their future within the community.
Distribute mock job assignments to students and give a talk about service to
one's community. Ask students how they feel about being assigned to a
profession. Ask them to speculate on what kind of world they are going to read
about, where people are assigned jobs to work as messengers, laborers,
electrician's helpers, and supply clerks.
The People of Sparks Pre-Reading Activity
What Is Community?–Ask students to write an essay about community using the
...
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