The People of Sparks
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 First edition cover | |
| Author | Jeanne DuPrau |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Book of Ember series |
| Genre | Young adult, Science fiction |
| Publisher | Random House/Yearling |
Publication date | May 25, 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 338 |
| ISBN | 0375828249 |
| OCLC | 53932528 |
| LC Class | PZ7.D927 Pe 2004 |
| Preceded by | The City of Ember |
| Followed by | The Prophet of Yonwood |
The People of Sparks, a post-apocalyptic novel by Jeanne DuPrau that was published in 2004, is the second book in the Books of Ember series which also includes The City of Ember, The Prophet of Yonwood, and The Diamond of Darkhold.
The Playtone Company (the production company that released the City of Ember film) also purchased the rights to The People of Sparks, but after the box office failure of the first film, plans for the sequel were shelved.[1]
Plot summary
Having to leave from living in an underground city for 241 years, the 417 survivors of the city of Ember can't go back and have no idea how to survive on the surface. Wandering for days, exhausted and hungry, they come across the village of Sparks. The people of this small village reluctantly agree to take in the refugees for 6 months, just long enough to teach them to survive on their own.
There is not enough food for everybody in Sparks, leaving a disaster for both the people of Sparks and the Emberites. The starving Emberites don't seem to know anything about the surface, and the villagers soon begin to resent having to take care of them. Lina, Poppy and Mrs. Murdo are told to live at the doctor's house, where there is a whiny boy named Torren living there too. As tensions mount a mysterious series of acts of vandalism against the people of Ember heightens the anger on both sides, until conflict seems inevitable.
The people of Ember are growing restless and the people of Sparks want to get rid of them, as they are not being very civil to each other. Soon the food the Emberites open is more and more unpleasant. They are unwelcome and they know it, they are forced into an old hotel, the Pioneer Hotel, which was once grand but has now fallen into disrepair. The Emberites are told that at the end of the month they will have to leave and start their own civilization. Meanwhile, Lina leaves with a group of roamers who go to old cities to find treasure, hoping to find the city she has been dreaming of and drawing. There she finds not a beautiful city like she expected, but a ruined and crumbling metropolis. She arrives back to Sparks disappointed.
The climax occurs when Sparks' town hall catches on fire. The Emberites watch passively as the people of Sparks try to save the building, most hoping the building will burn down. But Lina decides to help the people of Sparks, upon which most of the Emberites decide to pitch in and they all succeed in putting out the fire. As this happens, Doon sees that a young boy is trapped in the burning tree by the building, rushes in, and bravely saves him before he catches on fire. This act turns around the spiral of resentment and it is discovered that it was in fact a person belonging to the people of Ember, Tick Hassler, who perpetrated the acts of vandalism against the people of Ember. This results in a bright future for both the people of Ember and the people of Sparks, symbolized by Doon's rediscovery of electrical currents, partly due to a school science book describing how to create one, and Torren's light bulb, given to him by his older roamer brother Caspar.