The Prophet of Yonwood

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

21 Jun 2008 01:36 PM

The third book in the Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau, is actually a prequel to the others. The Prophet of Yonwood takes place hundreds of years earlier than the other books.

Nickie is an extremely curious eleven year old girl. Her world is scary; there are threats of impending war. Everyone is jumpy and nervous. Her father is off somewhere on a secret mission. (He's actually involved in the building of Ember). Her worried mother busies herself with work.

When her family inherits an old mansion from her great-grandfather, Nickie and her aunt travel to Yonwood, North Carolina to ready the place for selling. Nickie doesn't want to sell the place though. She hopes Yonwood will be a peaceful place, away from the city and talk of war. Her three goals are: to keep the house and live in it with her parents, to fall in love, and to do something helpful for the world.

The house is ancient, and holds many interesting secrets. It is even hiding another girl and her dog. The town Yonwood isn't what Nickie expects. A woman there is having visions, and another woman is interpreting those visions. Almost the whole town goes along with what the interpreter says to do. Nickie does too, and even helps the woman find bad behaviors to correct in the town. She even accidentally causes her friend Grover to be punished because of the snakes he keeps as pets. But when the decree comes that there are to no more dogs, Nickie rebels. Her confrontation with the prophet is one of the stronger points of the book.

Her father communicates by postcards, and there is a bit of puzzle in trying to figure out his location, but it was a bit disappointing. The first book had a better puzzle. I was really hoping the prequel would go more into the building of Ember. But the story is only slightly connected to the others. At the end of the story, Nickie is all grown up. Her children are grown and gone, and her husband is dead. She is asked to be one of the original people of Ember, And we find out that the journal Lina and Doon find in the first book is actually Nickie's on the day she entered Ember.

A fourth book in the series, The Diamond of Darkhold, is due out in August, and we are all anxious to read it.

Also See:

The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau

The People of Sparks - Jeanne Duprau

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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