Simone Chen

Simone Chen
The People of Sparks
Jeanne DuPrau
Science Fiction
Just Right
P. 252

1. Right now the people in the small town Sparks and the people of the underground city Ember are getting more and more angry at each other. People of Sparks are angry because the Emberites are taking all their food that is supposed to go to their own families and disturbing their way of life. Emberites are mad with the people of Sparks because they are ridiculing them for not knowing how to do jobs such as plowing and digging. Emberites are also mad because their food portions are getting smaller, and a vandal has sabotages the place where they are staying by scrawling "GO BACK TO YOUR CAVE" in mud on the walls. Lina feels like she and Doon's friendship is fading, because Doon seems to always want to be around his new friend Tick instead of her.

2. I am really enjoying this book so far because it portrays what life could be like in the distant future if the entire human race is almost wiped off of the face of the earth. People in Sparks have no technology, heating, cars, and other modern day things we have today because the Disaster caused nations to destroy all buildings, cars, etc. in the horrible world war they were in. It seems like the author is giving us a warning about what our world could be like if fighting and wars got so bad, and in my opinion she does this in a very clever way. Also she gives each individual character a unique and different personality. She was very good at describing how the Emberites felt when they first entered this new world, and how they are adjusting to this new, vast world, and I don't think many authors could have done it this good.

3. A theme that I've noticed is desire for acceptance; I see this in every Emberite. When you go to a completely new place that you've never seen before and know nothing about, of course you would want to feel accepted and to fit in. This is exactly how the Emberites feel; they've arrived at a small town in the middle of a vast new world, and they want to feel accepted in Sparks. I also see this in Doon; almost all the kids are friends with Tick Hassler, and he doesn't want to be the odd one out, so naturally he tries to become friends with him too. Tick has some strong opinions and interesting ideas, although they're not all good ones. Even so, Doon tries to look past this and become close friends with Tick so that he's not the only one who doesn't admire Tick, like everyone else does.

4. My favorite character is Lina because she tries to cope with the tough situation that they're in and always looks to the bright side of things. When she and her family move into Dr. Hester's house, Dr. Hester's spoiled nephew Torren torments and makes fun of Lina and other Emberites because they seem dumb because they don't know anything about the world or how to farm, and they were at first scared of chickens and horses. Lina tries her best to deal with him and put up with his rudeness. Also, she's curious and tries to learn about this new world they're in. She asks many questions and tries to find out things that she didn't know before.

5. My least favorite character is Tick, because he is egging the people into a war between Sparks and Ember. He provokes them and makes them even more angry at each other on purpose, as if he wants there to be a fight. Also, he has many ideas of how to help the Emberites, but never completes his plans. For example, he would start with project A and work on that for a few days. Then, he'd have another brilliant idea and abandon project A to work on the new one, project B. And so on; few of his plans ever succeeded and got finished.

6. I predict the people of Ember and Sparks will almost get into a fight, but either Lina and/or Doon will stop them before they hurt each other. People will recognize Tick as not such a good person, and make him leave. Lina and Doon's friendship will become strong again and Doon will realize that Lina's the one that he wants to be friends with, not Tick. Also, Torren will do something for Lina that proves that he isn't a completely bad kid. Lina and Doon might go on another adventure to do something to help the town of Sparks and make up for all the trouble that the Emberites have caused.