City of Ember Overview

Menu:
Canned pineapple & peaches (fruit cups)
Celery moths (celery, peanut butter, cream cheese, pretzel wings; carrots & raisin
garnish)
Black bean dip & hummus (stewed turnips) with pitas and chips
Beet Root tea
Veggies
Foods of Ember (discussion points)

No animals = no meat or dairy

No direct sun = only hearty vegetables (no fresh fruit); few flowers
No grain = no bread, crackers, rice

Discussion Questions

Decoding the Message

Your Magical City
Lina was always drawing pictures of the city from her dreams. Draw your own "magical"
city.

Movie & Dinner

Book vs. Movie Quiz

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Foods of Ember
Make a list of the foods eaten in Ember. The page numbers below will help you.
Pages 59-61 - vegetables

Page 61 - beehives

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Page 71 - breakfast

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Why do the people of Ember eat these foods?

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Why do the greenhouses not grow fruits?

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Why do the people not raise beef, pork, chicken, etc.?

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Why would the people of Ember have bee hives?
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Why do the greenhouses not grow grains?
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City of Ember Discussion Questions

From The City of Ember Discussion Questions @
http://www.geocities.com/mscognato/books/booksites/cityofemberdq.html
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. Why do the people of Ember know so little about fire?
6. The people of Ember had never heard of heaven, hog, or boats. Why would they
not know of these common words?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. 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?
10.
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?

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11.
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?

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De-coding the Message

Lina had a difficult time trying to decode the torn document. Can you decipher the
message?
Lina's Message Full of Holes
Instru
This

offic

secur

Egres

doc

in stric

period of

ears.

prepara

made for

inha

city.

as

Foll

1. Exp
riv

2.

ip work

ston

marked with

by

dge

3.

adde down
to

eged

appr

iverb nk
eight

low.

4.

acks
wat r.

to the

find door of bo

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ker. Ke

hind small steel

the

pan

right

ey, open do

5.

oat,
nec
ont

stocked with
uip ent. Back

eet.

6. Usi

opes, lowe

ter. Head down

st

. Us

pa

cks and assist over

av

7.

rap

approx. 3 hours. Disem

. Follow

pat

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Uncover the secret of Ember!

Book to Movie Quiz
Reprinted from http://www.phoenixtears.net/coequiz/quiz.html
1) In book, the reader does not officially learn that Ember is underground until the
end of the book. When do the viewers learn this in the movie?
In the end of the movie like the book.
In the beginning of the movie.
Viewers never learn that it is underground.
Ember is not underground.

2) In the movie, the graduating students receive their work assignments in a

ceremony in the auditorium of the school. Where do they receive their
assignments in the book?
In the greenhouses.
In the auditorium like in the movie.
In their classroom.

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In Harken Square.

3) In the book, Lina's father died from the coughing sickness. How did he die in the
movie?
He died in the pipeworks while trying to find a way out of Ember.
He died of coughing sickness like the book.
He died while trying to fix a light in the greenhouse.
Lina's father doesn't die in the movie.
4) In the movie, there are large creatures that chase Lina and Doon. Are these
creatures in the book?
Yes
No

5) In the book, Mrs. Murdo finds the rock with the note that Lina and Doon drop
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down onto Ember from the surface. Who finds the note in the movie?
The mayor.
Mrs. Murdo like the book.
Clary
Doon's father.

6) In the movie, the citizens of Ember are forbidden to leave the city. Is this the
case in the book?
Yes, they are forbidden by law.
No, they are not forbidden but most people don't try to leave because it is too
dark beyond the city.
7) In the book, Lina and Doon find the boats in a hidden room beside the river.
Where are the boats in the movie?
In a hidden room beside the river like the book.

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In a food storage room.

In the pipeworks locker room where the oddly shaped lockers become boats.
They don't find boats in the movie.

8) In the movie, the mayor is eaten by a giant mole. Does this happen in the book?
Yes
No

9) In the book, all of the citizens of Ember meet in Harken Square once a year to
sing the songs of Ember as a group. Does this happen in the movie?
Yes
No

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10) In the movie, Lina's and Doon's fathers had previously tried to find a way out
of Ember but were unsuccessful. What happened in the book?
They found the way out and left the city before Lina and Doon found it.
They tried to find a way out but were unsuccessful like in the movie
They found the way out but chose to stay with their children.
They never tried to find a way out.

11) In the book, Lina temporarily loses her sister, Poppy, when the lights go out for
a long period of time while Lina is buying colored pencils. Does she lose her in the
movie?
Yes
No
No, but Mrs. Murdo loses Poppy.
No, but Granny loses Poppy when Granny goes shopping.
12) In the movie, the box Lina finds holds the instructions for leaving Ember and a
card that turns out to be one half of a key. Is this the case in the book?

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Yes , the box has the instructions and a card.

No, the box just has the instructions.
No, the box has the instructions and the Book of Ember
No, the box has the instructions and a detailed history of how Ember was
created.
13) In the book, Lina's friend, Lizzie, works as a clerk in the storage rooms. Where
does she work in the movie?
She works as a clerk in the storage rooms like the book.
She works with Lina as a messenger.
She works in the greenhouses
She works at the library.

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14) In the movie, Doon is helped in the pipeworks by an old man named Sul. Is Sul
in the book?
Yes
No

15) In the book, Poppy finds a journal left by the riverbank after Lina and Doon
escape from Ember that tells of how people came to inhabit Ember. Does Poppy
find this journal in the movie?
Yes
No

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