Title: The People of Sparks.
Author: Jeanne DuPrau.
Published: 2004
Pages: 338
Chapters: 33
Pages per Chapter (on average): 10+
Date Started: Jan. 9-----Date Finished: Jan. 11
My Reading Speed: 112+ pages a day, or 11 chapters a day.
The Main Characters: Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, the brave kids who saved the city of Ember, are back.
My Brief Synopsis: When the village of Sparks finds out that they have to take care of over 400 refugees of the dead city of Ember, they do the best they can, taking them in, feeding them, teaching them about the outside world.
The Conflicts: There are so many things the Emberites don't know, having lived underground all their lives, so the Sparks people think they're stupid. There's little food to go around, since the population has doubled, but the Emberites think Sparks is holding food back on purpose and starving them. Resentment grows between the two peoples, some arguements break out, and things almost turn into a war. Some people are partly responsible for this, like the 3 leaders of Sparks, a little Sparks boy named Torren, who fuels resentment by pulling a prank and blaming Doon for it, even Tick, an Ember teenager good with mob psychology.
My General Comments: Well, I think it was fascinating to read about this kind of stuff. It seems way set in the future, after some big Disaster. It's funny seeing how the Emberites learn about different normal objects, like a magnet, or a flashlight, or a toy airplane, how each thing is described so accurately it's as if you're learning about these foreign objects. It's also interesting to see how two different races, raised in entirely different conditions, react to each other.
My Favorite Part: I think I liked the ending chapters the best, when there's a truce and everyone promises to be friends. I know, that sounds like it's all happy and dandy, but I really can't think of anything else. It's a very serious storyline, with all the problems and hate and things.
My Favorite Things About the Book: Well, I always like reading about alternate worlds, and I think this one was constructed really well. It totally reminds me of Pendragon. I can almost imagine how the villain of that series, Saint Dane, would manipulate these people into falling into chaos and discord.
A Personal Shout Out to Jeanne DuPrau: You wrote another good one, Jeanne. You're like a genie in a bottle. It's amazing how much you seem to know about how the human mind works. Did you take psychology or something? Simply awesome.
Here's the link to The People of Sparks's Wikipedia Article.
Below is Jeanne Duprau's own website:
This link will take you to my review of Jeanne Duprau's first book, The City of Ember.
What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.
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