Chapter Summaries 16-20

Chapter 16 :

In this chapter, Lina is being chased down by two guards. They chase for a good twenty to thirty minutes, and then the guards finally catch Lina. She's escorted to the Mayors' office. During their conversation, a blackout takes action. Lina takes this as a sign, and takes off running. She makes it to the roof, and then sets another plan into action. 

Chapter 17 :

Doon decided to leave Lina, even if she was going to meet him by the Pipeworks. Lina and him meet there, and use the Instructions to leave Ember. Doon and Lina use their candles and matches, so they could see down the tunnel. The tunnel leads into more tunnels, eventually to 351. Tunnel 351 is where the "E" is. 

Chapter 18 :

The boat launched into the water, and was being thrusted and thrown around by the heavy current. Eventually, it gets as bad as where Poppy might hit her head on one of the metal benches. They were all screaming and yelling, and then the river calmed down. It calmed down to a point where Lina and Doon could sit up. Then, the boat slows to a stop and they find a path.

Chapter 19 :

The two children and Poppy have to walk for seven hours. The Builders had put a sign, so they'd know they were going the right direction. The walk took a while, according to Lina. They were all hungry. Then, after the walk, they saw the light. It was the outside world, actually. Ember was underground, and the Pipeworks were the underground of the underground.

Chapter 20 :

This chapter brings us to where they read the journals from the woman. It says she was given a child, and that there was a bus. The bus would take them somewhere. The windows were boarded shut, so they couldn't see where they were going. Her and another man were assigned to raise this baby, and start a colony. After the story, it goes back to Lina and Doon. They see a fox, but of course... They have no clue what a fox is! Doon wrote a message to Ember, tied it to a rock with the Instructions, and threw it down with a piece of his shirt. It landed in front of Mrs. Murdo,  and from then it continues into the next Book of Ember.

Vocabulary

VOCABULARY

Plunged - To dive down

Fussing - Whining or complaining

Jumble - A cluster of objects

Vicious - Cruel or violent

Sloping - Inclined from a horizontal or vertical line

Character Introductions

LINA

She is twelve years old. Lina has straight, dirty blonde hair and has a wide imagination. She's very creative and does whatever she can to help her friends. Also, she's great at running. While running, she doesn't get tired easily like most people do. She works as a Messenger.

DOON

He is also twelve years old. He has short, choppy brown hair. Doon is very serious. This boy loves to examine bugs, and draws them in a book. He's solitary, and doesn't have a very wide circle of friends. His only friend mentioned in the book is Lina, and he seems like an outcast. He works as a Pipeworks Laborer.

Chapter Summaries 11-15

Chapter 11 :

In this chapter, Lina stayed over at Ms. Murdo house until she had to go to her job. As usual, she delivered her messages. Lina visits Lizzie at work, and Lizzie drops the sack she was holding. There were cans, and Lizzie played it off so some of the children would continue walking. Eventually, she tells Lina that she took some of the cans from the stock.

Chapter 12 :

In the first two pages, it talks about Doon seeing an ear, a gray cheek, and purple lips. Then, it cuts over to Lina and her job. It says that most of the messages she carried over to one another were things like "How about we meet at my house?" or, "I can't make it to work tomorrow.". There were many blackouts. The blackouts were short, but happened more often than usual. It seemed like any moment the generator could shut down permanently.

Chapter 13 :

Not many things happen in this chapter. Lina and Lizzie talk, and Lina tells Lizzie about the Mayor and the Instructions. Then, Lina goes over to Doon. While they're with each other, they try to figure out what the words were. Things like "riverbank" and "egress" were found. So, in conclusion, the Instructions are for finding the way out of Ember.

Chapter 14 :

Doon came running over to Lina while she was sitting in an alley. He said to her that he had found the door marked with the "E", discussed in the previous chapter. Doon had taken the key from the Pipeworks director. So, Lina and him had gotten into the Pipeworks while it was closed. While there, they looked at the rock next to the door with the "E" on it.

Chapter 15 :

Lina and Doon get out of the Pipeworks, and then they see these flyers. They had the pictures of both of them on the flyers. Below the pictures, it said "WANTED FOR SPREADING VICIOUS RUMORS". They weren't spreading rumors, instead telling the guards the truth. One of the guards had been told about it, and so he reported it to the Mayor. The Mayor then had them put flyers everywhere that said this.

Chapter Summaries, 6-10

Chapter 6 :

Theres a notice that says all citizens must meet in Harken Square for important news at 6 P.M.. Lina was wondering what the important news was. The important news was a solution to the cans being stolen. However, he didn't tell the solution to any of the towns citizens. Doon and his father were discussing how the Mayor was a fool, and shouldn't lie to the townsfolk.

Chapter 7 :

This is where the Instructions come in. They were found in the previous chapter, while Poppy was chewing on them. The words were spaced out in this chapter, to give emphasis that there were many smudged and missing letters/words. Captain Fleery, her instructor, was given the instructions by Lina to see if she could make sense of the words. It was a failed attempt, because Fleery only said that Lina was letting her imagination wander.

Chapter 8 :

This brings us back to Doon. He's in the Pipeworks, and is telling us what he does to remember the path. He'd drop things like bolts, wrenches, and other things to keep his path in case he got lost. It also says that he has found three new creatures. They were all insects. These creatures were a beetle, a moth, and a snail. Doon didn't know that it was a snail, though.

Chapter 9 :

Lina and Doon are trying to figure out something in the Pipeworks. There was a roped-off door, and they wanted to know what was behind that door. They spent this whole chapter discussing what it was.  In the last five or six pages, they go over to the door and see a person walking away from it. Lina says it was a familiar shape. A familiar person. But, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Chapter 10 :

Lina and Poppy were playing halfway through this chapter. Lina took Granny to see Doctor Tower, and then they went back to their home without getting any medicine. Later that night, Granny told Lina to go to bed. When Lina woke up, Granny was lifeless. In other words, she died of natural causes. The natural cause being her age.

Chapter Summaries, Chapters INTRODUCTION, 1-5

CHAPTER SUMMARY

CHAPTERS 1-5

The Instructions :

This chapter is about the history of the City of Ember, and about the box. The box was locked in a closet in the Mayor's office. This box held the instructions that were found by Poppy. This also tells us how long the message was written. This chapter tells us who wrote it, too. It does not give away any information about why it was written.

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Chapter One :
This chapter introduces a few characters. Those characters are Lina, Doon, Lizzie, Ms. Thorn, and The Mayor.. These five characters are introduced in a classroom. It is Assignment Day. Assignment Day is where you get your job. You work your job for the rest of your life, and you can't choose what you get. It's a literal luck of the draw.

Chapter Two :
Once again, three new characters are introduced. Granny, Clary, and Poppy. Lina was told by a citizen of Ember to deliver a message to the Mayor. In this chapter, it tells us about Lina running down. It gives a side story, too. It tells us how Doon and Lina first started to grow apart. The side story tells us about the children climbing the light pole, with Doon falling and hitting his behind on the ground.

Chapter Three :
This cuts away to Doon. His job is in the Pipeworks. It says Doon had found a bug, and accidentally crushed it under his boot. The others laughed at him for it, because he was so interested in bugs and the life around him instead of the river. It also describes what the Pipeworks look like, and how the tunnels are set up.

Chapter Four :
Another cutaway, but this time it cutaway back to Lina. She went over to Clary, and asked about things. The things that she asked were about the Outer Regions and the cans that were stolen. The cans were things of sweet corn, radishes, and other food items that were important in survival. When they were done talking, Clary gave Lina a seed and a pot, to grow food.

Chapter Five :
In the first few pages, it talks about Granny, Ms. Murdo, and Lina. Granny was tearing up the couch. Ms. Murdo sat at their window instead of hers to keep Granny company, and Lina thought she was lonely. Then, it goes to where a couple of men are talking about paint and colored pencils. While eavesdropping, Lina hears that there's colored pencils down at the store. So, she goes and buys two colored pencils for ten dollars. The colored pencils are blue and green.

Introduction

THE CITY OF EMBER

INTRODUCTION

The City of Ember is a book about two children who go on an adventure. They try to figure out what a set of papers meant, and why they were there. The two main characters are Lina and Doon. Lina's baby sister, Poppy, is also a big contributor to the story at one point. The paper is chewed on, and a bit water-damaged from Poppy. It has missing or smudged letters and words. What could this mystery paper possibly be?

Why do you think this book is worth your while? It's a fun adventure that includes suspense and puzzles. The two main characters are only twelve years old, and they already have their jobs. Lina and Doon get in trouble from being too curious about what's outside of Ember. They have a strong relationship, and hopefully it'll last through this long journey.