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The Prophet of Yonwood (The City of Ember Book 4) Kindle Edition
Nickie will grow up to be one of the first citizens of the city of Ember. But for now, she’s an eleven-year-old girl whose father was sent away on some mysterious government project.
So when the opportunity to move presents itself, Nickie seizes it. But her new town of Yonwood, North Carolina, isn’t what she’d anticipated. It’s a place full of suspicion and mistrust, where one person’s visions of fire and destruction have turned the town’s citizens against each other. Nickie explores the oddities around her—her great-grandfather’s peculiar journals, a reclusive neighbor who studies the heavens, a strange boy who is fascinated with snakes—all while keeping an eye out for ways to help the world. Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?
Praise for the City of Ember books:
Nominated to 28 State Award Lists!
An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection
A Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice
A Child Magazine Best Children’s Book
A Mark Twain Award Winner
A William Allen White Children’s Book Award Winner
“A realistic post-apocalyptic world. DuPrau’s book leaves Doon and Lina on the verge of undiscovered country and readers wanting more.” —USA Today
“An electric debut.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred
“While Ember is colorless and dark, the book itself is rich with description.” —VOYA, Starred
“A harrowing journey into the unknown, and cryptic messages for readers to decipher.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level4 - 7
- Lexile measure760L
- PublisherRandom House Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateMay 9, 2006
- ISBN-13978-0440421245
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
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From Booklist
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
From the Hardcover edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
On a warm July afternoon in the town of Yonwood, North Carolina, a woman named Althea Tower went out to her backyard to fill the bird feeder. She opened her sack of sunflower seeds, lifted the bird feeder’s lid–and that was when, without warning, the vision assailed her.
It was like a waking dream. The trees and grass and birds faded away, and in their place she saw blinding flashes of light so searingly bright she staggered backward, dropped her sack of birdseed, and fell to the ground. Billows of fire rose around her, and a hot wind roared. She felt herself flung high into the sky, and from there she looked down on a dreadful scene. The whole earth boiled with flames and black smoke. The noise was terrible–a howling and crashing and crackling–and finally, when the firestorm subsided, there came a silence that was more terrible still.
When the vision finally faded, it left Althea stunned. She lay on the ground, unable to move, with her mind all jumbled and birds pecking at the spilled birdseed around her. She might have lain there for hours if Mrs. Brenda Beeson had not happened to come by a few minutes later to bring her a basket of strawberries.
Seeing Althea on the ground, Mrs. Beeson rushed forward. She bent over her friend and spoke to her, but Althea only moaned. So Mrs. Beeson used her cell phone to call for help. Within minutes, four of her best friends–the doctor, the police chief, the town mayor, and the minister of the church–had all arrived. The doctor squatted beside Althea and spoke slowly and loudly. “Can you tell us what’s wrong?” he said. “What is it?”
Althea shivered. Her lips twisted as she tried to speak. Everyone leaned in to hear.
“It’s God,” she whispered. “God. I saw...I saw...” She trailed off.
“Merciful heavens,” said Brenda Beeson. “She’s had a vision.”
Of course they didn’t know at first what her vision had been. They thought maybe she’d seen God. But why would that frighten her so? Why would she be muttering about fire and smoke and disaster?
Days went by, and Althea didn’t get better. She lay on her bed hardly moving, staring into the air and mumbling. Then, exactly a week later, a clue to the mystery came. The president of the United States announced that talks with the Phalanx Nations had reached a crisis. Their leaders would not give in on any of their demands, and the leaders of the United States would not give in on theirs. Unless some sort of agreement could be reached, the president said, it might be necessary to go to war.
Brenda Beeson made the connection right away: War! That must be what Althea Tower had seen. Mrs. Beeson called her friends, they told their friends, the newspaper wrote it up, and soon the whole town knew: Althea Tower had seen the future, and it was terrible.
All over Yonwood, people gathered in frightened clusters to talk. Could it be true? The more they thought about it, the more it seemed it could be. Althea had always been a quiet, sensible person, not the sort to make things up. And these were strange times, what with conflicts and terrorists and talk of the end of the world–just the kind of times when visions and miracles were likely to happen.
Brenda Beeson formed a committee to take care of Althea and pay attention to anything else she might say. People wrote letters to the newspaper about her and left flowers and ribbons and handwritten notes in front of her house. The minister spoke of her in church.
After a few weeks, nearly everyone was calling her the Prophet.
Chapter 1: The Inheritance
Nickie Randolph’s first sight of the town of Yonwood was a white steeple rising out of the pine forest that covered the mountainside. She leaned forward, gazing through the windshield of the car. “Is that it?”
Her aunt Crystal, who was driving, put one hand up to shield her eyes from the rays of the setting sun. “That’s it,” she said.
“My new home,” said Nickie.
“You have to get that notion out of your mind,” said Crystal. “It’s not going to happen.”
I’m going to make it happen, thought Nickie, though she didn’t say it out loud. Crystal’s mood was already bad enough. “How long till we get there?” she asked.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes, if nothing else gets in our way.”
A lot had gotten in their way so far. The Streakline train was closed down because of the Crisis, so they’d had to drive. They’d been on the road for seven hours, though the trip from Philadelphia should have taken no more than five. But long lines at gas stations, detours around pot-holed or snow-covered stretches of highway, and military roadblocks had slowed them down. Crystal didn’t like delays. She was a fast-moving, efficient person, and when her way was blocked, she became very tense and spoke with her lips in two hard lines.
They came to the Yonwood exit, and Crystal turned off the highway onto a road that wound uphill. Here the trees grew thick on either side, and so tall that their bare branches met overhead, making a canopy of sticks. Drops of rain began to spatter the car’s windshield.
After a while, they came to a sign that said, “Yonwood. Pop. 2,460.” The trees thinned out, and the rain fell harder. They passed a few storage sheds, a collapsing barn, and a lumberyard. After that, houses began to appear on the side of the road–small, tired-looking wooden houses, their roofs dripping. Many of them had rockers or couches on the front porch, where people would no doubt be sitting if it weren’t the dead of winter.
From a small brick shelter at the side of the road, a policeman stepped out holding a red stop sign. He held it up and waved it at them. Crystal slowed down, stopped, and opened her window. The policeman bent down. He had on a rain jacket with the hood up, and rain dripped off the hood and onto his nose. “Hello, ma’am,” he said. “Are you a resident?”
“No,” said Crystal. “Is that a problem?”
“Just doing a routine entry check, ma’am,” the man said. “Part of our safety program. Had some evidence lately of possible terrorist activity in the woods. Your purpose here?”
“My grandfather has died,” Crystal said. “My sister and I have inherited his house. I’ve come to fix the house up and sell it.”
The man glanced at Nickie. “This is your sister?”
“This is my niece,” said Crystal. “My sister’s daughter.”
“And your grandfather’s name?” said the man.
“Arthur Green,” said Crystal.
“Ah, yes,” the policeman said. “A fine gentleman.” He smiled. “You be careful while you’re here, now. We’ve had reports indicating there may be agents of the Phalanx Nations traveling alone or in small groups in parts of the area. Have you been spoken to by any suspicious strangers?”
“No,” said Crystal. “Just you. You seem very suspicious.”
“Ha ha,” said the man, not really laughing. “All right, ma’am,” he went on. “You may go. Sorry for the delay, but as you know there’s a crisis. We’re taking every precaution.”
He stepped away, and they drove on.
“Terrorists even here?” Nickie said.
“It’s nonsense,” said Crystal. “Why would a terrorist be wandering around in the woods? Pay no attention.”
From the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Product details
- ASIN : B000QCS932
- Publisher : Random House Books for Young Readers; Reissue edition (May 9, 2006)
- Publication date : May 9, 2006
- Language : English
- File size : 2615 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 306 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0440421241
- Best Sellers Rank: #378,318 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #104 in Children's Dystopian Sci-Fi Books
- #1,362 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Adventure
- #1,365 in Children's Books on Friendship
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Jeanne DuPrau is the author of The New York Timesbestseller The City of Ember and its companion The People of Sparks. She lives in Menlo Park, California, and drives a hybrid car that runs on a combination of gas and electricity.
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2013This book is actually quite good. The characters are realistic and you can relate to them throughout the story. I like that they put this book 3rd because it was interesting to take a break from Lina and Doon and get to meet more interesting characters. I know people say this book is horrible, but in my opinion it's GREAT. If you liked The City Of Ember and The People of Sparks, you should give this book a chance.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2013This book is set pre-apocalypse, before the first book City of Ember. It doesn't really spend too much time on the event itself which drove the Ember citizens underground. Instead it focuses on problems that are real right now in our daily lives. It explains the problems in easy to understand terms for children, as well as explaining how to cope with these problems. This book covers the concept of religious extremism (in this case, some non-specified and created Christian based ethos) and how a message (perhaps divine in origin) may be misunderstood and twisted by people to further a material or personal agenda. It also covers the mass hype of modern day witch hunts, what we refer to as "terrorism". It teaches kids to think about who to talk to and what to say, and protecting your friends and family. Plus, my young son slammed the book down and started crying when they took the dogs.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012I was confused by The Prophet of Yonwood at first. As the third book in the Ember series, it takes the story in another direction. It seems totally unconnected until the end of the book. The movement is a little slow and the vocabulary is at about 6th grade level, but it is an enjoyable read. It is obvious that the author has a lesson regarding ethical behavior in the book; she is fairly heavy handed with it.
Readers under 14 years old will find this an enjoyable read. Older readers may find it somewhat plodding. However if you have read the first two books of Ember, it will add to your understanding of the end of the first book and the end of the foruth book. Otherwise, you can almost skip this book in the series. There are only two minor plot points that this book helps to connect.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2017This story is filled to the brim with suspense, and is absolutely amazing.! Nickie and Grover go on a local adventure, Grover being a full-time resident of Yonwood, and Nickie coming to Yonwood with her aunt to sell (or live in, she hopes). The town is obeying Brenda Breeson, who abides by Althea, the Prophet! This book is so great and I would recommend this to anyone who likes fiction at all!
- Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2022I loved it! Wow! Amazing! Great! So good! Really cool! Fantastic! Awesome! Astounding! Wow! Astonishing! Breath taking! Really.... Like .....wow
- Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2011"The Prophet of Yonwood" reminded me of the books Jane Langton wrote for the same age group -- "The Fragile Flag," for example -- about the loss of American civil liberties in an atmosphere of zealotry and fear. This book was not so well constructed, running too many skimpy story lines at once and tying them up too hastily in the last few chapters. However, DuPrau does a good job of depicting the spread of religious mania and the erosion of individual rights in one small town. She is clearly familiar with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," and owes a creative debt to L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time," from which the girl's mysteriously absent father and the boy's pack of squalid siblings seem to be lifted.
DuPrau's target in this prequel to the Ember series is fascist-style totalitarianism. Interestingly, her best book, the original "City of Ember," is a critique of communist-style totalitarianism, with its deadening effects on innovation and initiative. A junior high school class could do a good unit of social studies using this series for discussion material. Unfortunately, this kind of thoughtful discussion is not encouraged in our timid, testing-obsessed schools, especially when religion might be criticized.
P.S.: Speaking of schools, how does the girl in this book get to take a few weeks off from school to visit her great-grandfather's hometown? That's harder to believe than a nuclear apocalypse.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2013I've watched the movie "City of Ember" and when I found out it was based off a book I was so excited and had to read it! Little did I know it was part of a four book series! If you're looking for a series that is a quick read and really makes you think, this series is for you!
- Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2014I loved this whole series and so did my daughter. She is 8 but tests on a 12th grade level. It is soo hard to find age appropriate material that is complex enougj to encourage growth. This was perfect! It was a great premise and well written.
Top reviews from other countries
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Arturo LeonReviewed in Mexico on June 23, 2021
3.0 out of 5 stars Trama medio interesante pero nada esencial
Es un libro que tiene una trama entretenida, sin embargo, me encontré aburrido en muchas partes. Nada comparado con los tres libros anteriores en donde a lo largo de toda la historia me mantuvo interesado. Otra cosa a considerar es que a pesar de formar parte de la saga de City of Ember el 90% de la trama no tiene nada que ver con la historia global de la saga.
- GateReviewed in Canada on February 13, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Good value great book
My grandson so enjoyed this nook
- Ross PalmerReviewed in Australia on June 24, 2018
1.0 out of 5 stars Disapointing
Was expecting more on the developing of ember. Not a vertually unrelated story with a short side note at the end linking it to the originL story.
- SpacegirlgemmaReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read in the ember series
This is a really good story. It's hard to tell at first how the story will link into the city of ember story - you are kept guessing! It also works well as a nice stand alone story :)
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ich-will-Kunst-die-Gefühle-wecktReviewed in Germany on October 10, 2009
3.0 out of 5 stars 3 Sterne, wenn man das Buch als Jugendbuch deklariert
Inzwischen habe ich die ersten beiden "Books Of Ember" hinter mir - beide in der deutschen Übersetzung. Sowohl der erste Teil, als auch der zweite Teil der Serie haben mir dabei sehr gut gefallen - zu sehen, wie sich die Geschichte rund um die Bewohner von Ember entfaltet, mit welchen (gesellschaftlichen) Hürden deren neues Leben verbunden ist und wie sich nach und nach auftut, welche Hintergründe zur Entstehung der Stadt unter der Erde geführt haben.
Als ich dann erfahren habe, dass es auch noch einen dritten und vierten Teil gibt, war ich mehr als entzückt und natürlich auch gespannt. Dass dabei das dritte Buch eine Art Prequel, also Vorgeschichte ist, stellte für mich einen cleveren Schachzug von Frau Duprau dar - endlich die ganze Vorgeschichte von Ember präsentiert zu bekommen, mehr Tiefgang, mehr Background - das war meine Hoffnung.
Jetzt habe ich das Buch fertiggelesen und bin leider sehr, sehr enüchtert worden. Die Geschichte, die in diesem Buch erzählt wird, wird meineserachtens sehr, sehr stiefmütterlich erzählt. Die Hauptgeschichte rund um die Prophetin wird nämlich nur sehr schleppend erzählt und die meisten Kapitel handeln rein vom Erleben dieser "Zeit vor der Endzeit" aus Sicht der Hauptprotagonistin. Klar, es handelt sich hier um ein Jugendbuch - also darf man hier nicht erwarten, dass eine komplexe Geschichte im Vordergrund steht, aber trotzdem war ich sehr ernüchtert, dass die Rahmenhandlung rund um einen ständig vor dem Ausbruch stehenden Atomkrieg nicht gekonnter eingeflochten wird. Ich will hier nicht zuviel von der Story erzählen, aber bei mir weckt das Buch den Eindruck, als ob Frau Duprau desöfteren die Schreiblust verlassen hat bzw. sie einfach nicht mehr weiter wusste, wie sie am Ende des Buches die ganzen offenen Erzählstränge zusammenlaufen lassen soll. So versanden viele anfangs spannend eingeleiteten Nebenhandlungen oft in einer (aus meiner Sicht) leider etwas seichten und naiven Erklärung bzw. werden trotz riesiger Einleitung in einem Satz oder Absatz zu Ende erzählt oder aufgeklärt, was für mich stets sehr, sehr unbefriedigend ist. Besonders das letzte Kapitel ist dabei wirklich etwas abstrus. Vor diesem wird in keinster Weise irgend ein Wort von den Plänen zur Stadt Ember erwähnt - just aber dann ganz zum Schluss des Buches, auf den letzten drei, vier Seiten, wird ruckzuck schnell alles in ein paar Absätze gequetscht und dann auch noch eine schöne (wenn auch sehr offensichtliche) Verbindung zum ersten Buch geknüpft.
Wer also - so wie ich - in dieses Buch die Hoffnung steckt, mehr über Ember und deren Ursprünge zu erfahren, der soll sich klar sein, dass er eventuell am Ende eher enttäuscht sein wird.
Achja, nur kurz zum Buch und dessen Qualität: wie der Preis erahnen lässt, handelt es sich um ein klassich-englisches Paperback. Bitte also auch hier keine allzu großen qualitativen Ansprüche stellen - zwar hat das Titelmotiv noch eine Prägedruck, aber die eigentlichen Buchseiten scheinen auf 80g Kopierpapier gedruckt worden zu sein (Stichwort: man sieht schon fast auf der gerade gelesenen Seite die Buchstaben von dahinterliegenden durch!)