Language Arts – Friday Lesson

Good morning classes. Today we will focus on The City of Ember. We will continue to play “catchup” by reading chapter summaries. This serves as a review of everything that has happened so far, and will allow us to move on to new chapters next week.

Today we will read short summaries of chapter 4, 5, 6, and 7. You will find these below.

When finished, there is a short assignment to complete. It contains questions that cover all of the book, from the introduction up to and including chapter 7. It is attached below. I attached it twice, in a pdf and in a word file. Also attached below are summaries of Chapters 1 to 3, from earlier in the week.

This assignment has also been sent through Teams and is due today. Also in teams, you can find all of this material in the “files” section of our team. Good luck. And, as always, I’m available throughout the day to answer any questions you may have.

Chapter 4: Something Lost, Nothing Found

Lina finds Granny tearing up their couch while looking for something she had heard that her grandfather, Ember’s seventh mayor, lost long ago. Later, Lina’s work takes her to the greenhouses, which stand near trash heaps at the city’s southeast edge. Lina is delighted to deliver a message to its manager and her friend, Clary, but sad because the greenhouses remind her of her father, who worked there before he died. 

Lina learns from Clary that a new disease has infected Ember’s potatoes, one of the city’s food staples. The two then hear loud sobs from Sadge Merrall, who is in great distress after attempting to venture into the Unknown Regions. While searching for something that might help the city, Sadge encounters only immense darkness that fills him with fear. Sadge tells Clary and Lina that the Unknown Regions will never be penetrated without a portable light source, something that doesn’t exist in Ember. As Clary and Lina discuss mysteries about Ember’s Builders, the Unknown Regions, and where they came from, Lina tells Clary about her imagined city of light. Lina stresses that the city feels real and that she believes there’s a hidden doorway that leads out from Ember.

Chapters 5: On Night Street

Granny’s aging mind grows more muddled, so Lina has Mrs. Murdo, their neighbor, keep her company. Lina visits a store on Night Street, run by Looper, that has colored pencils, a rare commodity in Ember. There, she buys two, one green and one blue, but loses Poppy. As Lina searches for Poppy in surrounding streets, a blackout, the longest in Ember’s history, consumes the city. When the lights return, Lina finally finds Poppy and learns that Doon kept her safe in his father’s shop during the blackout.

Chapters 6: The Box in the Closet

In response to the blackout, citizens attend a meeting in Harken Square. Mayor Cole attempts to calm the crowd, saying those in power are managing the problem. But the townspeople sense he is lying. They grow angry and yell and surge at him as he escapes into the Gathering Hall. After the meeting, Doon rails about the mayor’s lies, but his father advises him to learn to master his anger. At home, Lina finds Granny ransacking a closet, from which she’s unknowingly dislodged a beautiful but damaged box with a mechanized lock and opened lid. Nearby, Poppy chews and rips up a piece of paper lined with perfect printing.

Chapter 7: A Message Full of Holes

Lina studies the paper scraps and concludes the original note must have come from the Builders and the box must be the lost item Granny was seeking. Although Poppy destroyed much of the message, Lina’s able to make out a seven-step list of instructions. Many of its words are now missing, but Lina regards the message as a mystery and determines to solve it, believing the message could help Ember. 

At work, Lina invites Captain Fleery to her apartment, where Captain Fleery reviews the message, only to dismiss it as unimportant. Captain Fleery then reveals she is a Believer: someone who thinks the Builders will return to save the city. At the Supply Depot, Lizzie tells Lina about Ember’s supply shortages and that only Mayor Cole and Farlo Batten, who is in charge of the storerooms, have access to reports on light bulb and vitamin supplies. After Lizzie shows no interest in the message from the box, Lina writes to the mayor, notifying him of her find, but she receives no reply. As Lina studies the broken message more, slowly filling in words such as river and door, she realizes the message pertains to the Pipeworks and that kind, curious, observant Doon is the right person to help her fill in the blanks.