The People of Sparks (Jeanne DuPrau)

Genre: Children's literature
Year Published: 2004

Yes, I picked up The City of Ember and its sequel simultaneously at the library. What can I say? I'm a fan of sequels. (Although, to continue yesterday's analogy, I didn't much care for The Giver's sequels, Gathering Blue and Messenger. I could honestly continue the comparison, as The People of Sparks resembles Gathering Blue in some ways, but I don't want to beat that horse to death.)

The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember left off (so if you're interested in reading the latter, you may want to stop reading this review now): the people of Ember, having received a message from Lina and Doon aboveground, make their way to the surface as well. They wander for a few days before finding a small settlement of people who agree to take them in for a short period of time until they can get onto their own feet.

The circumstances of the world we know are made clearer in Sparks: there has, in fact, been a "Disaster" (three plagues and four wars) that has wiped out most of humanity. People are just starting to build viable settlements again, devoid of electricity, gasoline, telephones, or much understanding of the past.

The problems start immediately: there are more Emberites than Sparks people; Emberites are, on the whole, unused to manual labor; the people of Sparks begin to resent the Emberites' drain on their jealously guarded resources. Soon violence erupts, and the future of both groups of citizens is very uncertain.

It's probably a mark of how good the premise of this book is that I wished I were reading the same novel, but for adults. The possibilities floated through my mind as I read: women would prostitute themselves for more food. Inevitably, romantic entanglements between the two groups would occur. Emberites, never having been exposed to most human illnesses, would be highly susceptible to deadly diseases. The lack of privacy in the Emberites' quarters would lead to quarrels and dissatisfaction. The social customs (e.g. for marriage, childbirth, death, etc.) of the two groups would be highly disparate, and so would cause consternation among the opposite people.

But it's a children's book, and DuPrau has to navigate within those constraints. And with that in mind, she does a very good job of showing what could go wrong under those types of circumstances. My only problem with the book is that at times it feels more like a cautionary tale or parable than it should. The "violence is bad" message gets hit a little too hard at times -- although what seems blatant to an adult may seem more subtle to a child. (But I doubt it.)

Recommended? Yes. (Same age constraints as the original.)