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The Diamond of Darkhold: The Fourth Book of Ember (Books of Ember)

Jeanne Duprau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Ember extinguished 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is the fourth in the "City of Ember" series. In book one, The City of Ember, the residents of Ember live underground in a post-apocalyptic world. They have a generator for electricity, indoor plumbing, stocks of canned food and they have never seen the outside world. When stocks start running out, they are led out of Ember by two children named Lina and Doon.

This takes us to book two, The People of Sparks, where the newly emerged Ember people try to fit in to the rustic lifestyle of a small village.

Book three, The Prophet of Yonwood is a prequel, telling of the events leading up to book one.

This book picks up after book two, with Lina, Doon and the people of Ember and Sparks facing a harsh winter and possible starvation. The earth simply cannot produce enough food to feed both communities, and supplies of other essentials are also running low. A traveling trader or "roamer" (read: scavenger) visits the village and Doon buys a portion of an old book that the roamer was using as kindling. The few remaining pages suggest that there is a legacy left for the people of Ember, for the time when it became necessary for them to abandon the underground city.

Lina and Doon decide to return to Ember to find the item mentioned in the book, and find more than they bargained for.

Knowledge of the first two books will be an asset while reading this one. (You can forget about the third book) The book moves along pretty well and will hold your interest until the final chapters. Sadly, a reasonably good story is diminished by an ending that seems to drift away to practically nothing.

Recommended for people who have read books one and two.


Rated: 3.5 stars




Amanda Richards, October 25, 2008

Editorial Review:

It’s been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Now, struggling through the harsh winter aboveground, they find an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device from before the Disaster, which they believe is still in Ember. Together, Lina and Doon must go back underground to retrieve what was lost and bring light to a dark world.

In the fourth Book of Ember, bestselling author Jeanne DuPrau juxtaposes yet another action-packed adventure with powerful themes about hope, learning, and the search for truth.

The City of Ember (Books of Ember)

Jeanne Duprau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 415 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good beginning for the series 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"City of Ember" is the children's version of anti-utopian fantasy. The protagonists - twelve-year old girl and boy - live in the gloomy underground city Ember, where the knowledge of most technologies and even many day-to-day things are forgotten. So, Ember does not have computers, cars, any manufacturing, or even boats and matches. It still has the generator that supplies electricity, but nobody understands how it works. What will happen when generator fails? What will happen when food supplies, stored by previous generations, are exhausted?

Even though the premise of the plot has some loopholes, it was interesting enough to keep my daughter and myself reading the book, trying to find what happens next. My daughter liked the book more than me, since she was fascinated by the idea of under-ground city; she also liked the brave and reckless heroine well enough, to forgive her some really stupid acts. I personally was slightly disappointed by the slow action in some parts of the book.

Despite these shortcomings, "City of Ember" is a good read for kids who are interested in fantasy or sci-fi ("City of Ember" is closer to sci-fi, in any case), but are tired of dragons, wizards and magic schools. In our case, my daughter went to read the next books in the series.

Editorial Review:

NOW A MAJOR motion picture starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Saoirse Ronan, and Harry Treadaway! This tie-in edition of The City of Ember features a movie-art cover and an 8-page photo insert. Jeanne DuPrau’s instant classic tells the story of the great, underground city of Ember, designed as a last refuge for the human race. But when the storerooms run out of food and the lights begin to fail, it’s up to two teens, Lina and Doon, to decipher the fragments of an ancient parchment and find a way out of Ember.

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book 1 (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

Rick Riordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 265 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he's not even sure he believes himself.

Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.

Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he's coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends–one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena–will face a host of enemies determined to stop them. To succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Inkspell (Inkheart)

Cornelia Funke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 221 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Audio Edition: Brendon Frasier does a really bad job as narrator 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Listened to to Inkheart and loved the book...Redgrave does a fantastic job as the narrator. Unfortunately, Frasier does not!! Could not finish this one. Shame on the publishers for not contracting with Redgrave again.

Ick D< 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Yay, I'm being immature with my titles. Anyways. I'm going to be honest and blunt: It's been a while since I read this book, or it least part of the book. Now, I really tried to read it, I swear I did. I tried to stick with it... However, the book wasn't as good as Inkheart.

I really liked Inkheart, it was original, fun, and entertaining to read. I was so excited when I got Inkspell, I could hardly wait to read it...Until I started reading it. I got bored, I've tried to read it a number of times, but I always put it down after the first fifty pages or so. I just can't get enveloped in the story again. I'm not sure why, maybe because my tastes have changed, or maybe because the plot of Inkheart was original, but something that you only hear once and find it exciting before you get bored with it.

I'll update this if I ever manage to plow through the book, but most likely it's going to stay on my book case for a long time.

-De

Editorial Review:

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of INKHEART, the book whose characters became real. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval world of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. But the story is threatening to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.

The People of Sparks (Books of Ember)

Jeanne Duprau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 104 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not gonna say it's the worst book I've ever read... 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

But I can't think of a worse one...

Let me just say that I bought the first book on a whim and was not dissapointed in the least. The characters were not fleshed out as well as they could be (or not at all really) but the idea of Ember, this underground city that is slowly dwindling away was just so enchanting that I had to keep reading. I really enjoyed the first book, and have read it several times over.

So, in saying that, when the People of Sparks came out I was extremely excited to see what Duprau had come up with this time.

Nothing. That's what she had come up with. The idea of the city of ember, which is what attracted me to the book in the first place, was completely gone, replaced by a completely worse setting, horrible characters, and a quite unintelligent plot. Reading this book was like reading a child's idea for the reason some people might go to war, and what ridiculous things they might go to war over.

Don't read it, and if you are going to read it for the sake of the first book, don't buy it. At least get it from the library. It was absolutely horrific, and uninspiring, and had zero plot. I tried to read it. I tried to like it.

I couldn't even finish the novel. And I know that is going to get reactions like, how am i saying all these things when i did not finish it. I couldn't finish it! That was how bad it was. If you do buy it you will feel like someone came up and stole 9 bucks out of your pocket. Promise.

Editorial Review:

The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn’t long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town’s resources are limited and it isn’t long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it’s up to Lina and Doon to discover who’s behind the vandalism and why, before it’s too late.


From the Hardcover edition.

Eclipse (Warriors: Power of Three, Book 4)

Erin Hunter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is the best book in the POT so far. I liked the earlier three to,but this is the best.

Spoiler Alert!! One of the best parts is the big battle. Shadowclan and Thunderclan team up to fight Windclan and Riverclan invaders. The battle is almost four chapters long.

In the middle of the book a mysterious cat comes to warn the clans that a darkness is coming that Starclan cant stop. It is not clear if he is good or bad yet.

Ithink that Lionblaze will be evil . He now hates Heatherpaw and he has dreams of killing Heatherpaw. He is starting to remind me of Anakin.


And as for what that reviewer who gave Eclipse three stars said,I think the books are going to be getting better not worse. It is a cool new idea about Starclan losing power. That means that Jaypaw and the other two can fufil the prophecy that was predicted in Firestars Quest.

Editorial Review:

Firestar's three grandchildren have learned of the powerful prophecy that foretells their destinies, and the responsibility of deciding the Clans' future weighs heavily on the three apprentices. But each secretly yearns for power: Lionpaw dreams of being undefeatable in battle, while Hollypaw longs to be a great leader and Jaypaw knows only he can see the true past and future for them all. Their strengths are tested when ThunderClan is suddenly attacked—and all four Clans are thrown into a battle unlike any the cats have ever seen.

Then a dark shadow falls across the forest, and a mysterious stranger warns the Clans of more trouble to come. For the first time, it appears that StarClan does not hold the answers the cats need.

All of a sudden, the warrior code is being tested. A crisis of faith threatens to tear the four Clans apart and destroy what the cats have built their lives upon. . . .

What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety (What to Do Guides for Kids)

Dawn Huebner

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A wonderful resource! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I sat down on my porch and read this through yesterday upon receiving it. It is a wonderful, LARGE book (8.5 X 11) with large type, easy to read and easy on the eyes. Our son who just turned 7 has had struggles with anxiety off and on for years. This book is 'right up his alley'! He is an imaginative boy, and draws to express what is in his mind. This book is full of pages where the anxious child can draw the topic or idea discussed. One idea I had (don't think it's a copyright issue if I own the book) is to xerox the drawing pages and let my son use the copies. So when he gets in an anxious period again, and we redo this process with another worry, he'll have fresh pages to use.

The explanations and reading level seem just perfect for any 6 to 10 year old, maybe even some five year olds. If your child is in elementary school, this book is for them.

I agree with the other reviewer that did not appreciate labeling sufferers as "weak people". It was in reference to a 'worry bully' picking on the child. A couple other places the text refers to the worry bully SEEING the child as weak, but this one place where the child is LABELED a "weak person" did concern me. I just took out my Sharpie, marked over the word 'weak' and left it that bullies like to pick on people, period. This one tiny sentence did not ruin an otherwise terrific book, for me!!

Overall a wonderful resource for a school age child. The illustrations are terrific, also!

Editorial Review:

"What to Do When You Worry Too Much" is an interactive self-help book designed to guide 6-12 year olds and their parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of generalized anxiety. Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, this book educates, motivates, and empowers children to work towards change. It includes a note to parents by psychologist and author Dawn Huebner, PhD.

Encyclopedia of Immaturity (Klutz)

Editors of Klutz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

excellent gift for that nephew in your life 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Great fun book for the younger set. Good to let them get a little crazy in this up-tight P C world!

Love it! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is truly perfect for all ages! I bought it for my tween (10-14 yr old) niece and nephews but found myself reading the book all the time. I even had to buy another one for my coworker as a parting gift which was a big hit. Several other coworkers expressed interest in buying one for themselves! Absolutely love it :)

Great book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I ordered this book for myself and my kids. They thought it was the coolest book ever. I think I could have written most of it. I then sent a copy to my brother for his 35th birthday. He has two sons and they both enjoyed it.

Fun for Everyone 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The entire family has enjoyed this book and many have tried out some of the "suggestions". Even some rather staid members of the family - all in good fun.

Excellent birthday gift for a 10 yr old boy 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My sons LOVE this book. Lots of silly gross stuff perfect for boys. My 4th and 5th grade sons love this.

Editorial Review:

How to never grow up, the complete guide.

The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book: Boil Ice, Float Water, Measure Gravity-Challenge the World Around You! (Everything Kids Series)

Tom Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great teaching tool 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book contains a well rounded selection of projects for kids so they can experiment with a wide range of science topics. They are all easy to complete and understand and have a good specific message and illustrate scientific ideas very well.

Editorial Review:

The Everything "RM" Kids' series is being relaunched at a phenomenal new price! They're the same great quality you've come to expect, still packed with tons of activities and puzzles in two-color -- now with a lower price that everyone can appreciate! Stock up on these perennial bestsellers that keep your kids active and engaged. The wide scope of subject material -- from jokes to science experiments -- appeals to kids all across the country. And parents and teachers love that the books provide responsible, educational information, while being so much fun that the kids love learning! From discovering why a sunset is red, to becoming a young entrepreneur, to learning new jokes to keep the whole family laughing, kids really love these Everything "RM" Kids' books!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)

J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5872 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I had already read and loved all of the Potter books but I was missing this one. I now have the complete set and will probably reread them.

I reread all the books this summer 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

And this one was the best and most imaginative of them all. The Department of Mysteries was easily the greatest fight in all the books.

excellent audio books!!!!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have at this point listened to all the books that have come out
in the theaters, i love them all, the narriator is excellent!!!!!
I am a Harry Potter fan, i can't get enough!!!!!!

An amazing novel 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the great transitional novel in the series. The first books have action and interesting plot twists, but the tone changes in this book. In the previous books, when Harry Potter wins a battle (aka the conclusion of a book), the reader experiences a feeling that everything is all right and will be right. However, throughout this book and into the next ones, the confident feeling that Harry will survive and defeat Voldemort and restore the peaceful, jovial magical world we knew in the first books is challenged. The changes in Harry's character do not inspire confidence either. The character we embraced and grew with is becoming a snotty, arrogant idiot. I found myself questioning whether the world Harry lives in will ever be the same even if Voldemort is defeated.

This is a great book and the beginning of the action that makes this series one of the best I have ever read. I recommend it to all.

Editorial Review:

The book that took the world by storm....In his fifth year at Hogwart's, Harry faces challenges at every turn, from the dark threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be- Named and the unreliability of the government of the magical world to the rise of Ron Weasley as the keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Along the way he learns about the strength of his friends, the fierceness of his enemies, and the meaning of sacrifice.