The Prophet of Yonwood (Books of Ember) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeanne Duprau
Publisher: Yearling
Category: Book
List Price: $6.50
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Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 939
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0440421241
EAN: 9780440421245
Publication Date: May 8, 2007
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Product Description
It’s 50 years before the settlement of the city of Ember, and the world is in crisis. War looms on the horizon as 11-year-old Nickie and her aunt travel to the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina. There, one of the town’s respected citizens has had a terrible vision of fire and destruction. Her garbled words are taken as prophetic instruction on how to avoid the coming disaster. If only they can be interpreted correctly. . . .
As the people of Yonwood scramble to make sense of the woman’s mysterious utterances, Nickie explores the oddities she finds around town—her great-grandfather’s peculiar journals and papers, 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. Is this vision her chance? Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?
In this prequel to the acclaimed The City of Ember and The People of Sparks, Jeanne DuPrau investigates how, in a world that seems out of control, hope and comfort can be found in the strangest of places.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 70 more reviews...
 The great book July 11, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Prophet of yonwood was great. I loved all the exciting thing that were in it. I would love to read it over and over again.
It was just how I expected it to be. I hope there is a 4th book.
Terrific and surprising prequel to Ember May 30, 2006
Deborah Robbins (San Francisco, CA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I liked this book very much. As in The City of Ember and The People of Sparks, I found the suspense really agonizing because there is so much at stake. Knowing what has happened long before Ember and Sparks begin makes every reference to The Crisis horrifying. All the loving descriptions of the natural world feel like elegies. That humanity gets a reprieve of 50 years or so does matter because we are happy for the lives these people get to live. But we believe in that catastrophe the more because it seems so likely and so horribly familiar. Postponed for now but coming, surely.
Otis is wonderful! The roundup of the dogs is just unbearable, as are Nickie's efforts to find Otis. I loved her little shrine in the woods to her lost Otis and to any human who comes along and would like a snack. When the dogs come back, I cried.
I think Mrs. Beeson is an excellent creation--not a bad person, but a person whose good qualities get co-opted by the her judgmental nature and her need for certainties in a time of terrible suspense. It's easy to like her when Nickie does and then begin to feel uneasy. Right at the beginning, with the interpretation of "sinnies," Duprau sows a seed of doubt and get me wanting Nickie to meet the Prophet face to face. Crystal is good, too--not a flat character as she might have been, but a regular person who has her very fine moments and then some bad ones, when she lets frustration overtake her. (I can't really forgive her for not being willing to go look for Otis again the following day. Of course, she doesn't know Otis then . . . .)
I like it that the world leaders are distracted from their drive to annihilate their enemies by the wonders of the universe; it's as if Grover and his snakes and Nickie and her dust mite and the Siamese twins win this round. Life wins because the world is so astonishing that even greedy frightened men can find cause for hope in it (even if they are hoping just for power for themselves).
I think it gives space for the reader's imagination to make this young heroine the 60-year-old woman who writes the journal we read in Ember. I think, indeed, that it is a haunting inspiration to tell the story of that woman's childhood and show how she battles the same destructive urges within herself that Lina and Doon and everyone else struggle with in the other books. No dogs in Ember, though. That must have been an extra sadness for Nickie.
I like Greenhaven and the town of Yonwood and the albino bear and what Grover calls to him. Why not assume communication is possible? Unless we are foolishly certain about our guesses of the other's nature, it can only help to address the unknown with respect and friendliness.
Duprau's books inspire me to open my heart and gather my courage, and I don't see why younger readers shouldn't also find this encouragement in these wonderful stories.
Can an 11-year-old girl do something to save the world? June 13, 2006
Jennifer Robinson (San Jose, CA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Prophet of Yonwood is a prequel to The City of Ember, by Jeanne Duprau. It takes place 50 years before people first go below ground to live in Ember, during a time when the world is on the precipice of war.
The story is set in the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina. 11-year-old Nickie goes to Yonwood with her aunt so that they can clean up an inherited mansion, and prepare it for sale. Nickie immediately falls in love with Yonwood, and with the rambling old house, and sets herself a series of goals for the visit:
1. To live with her parents in her great-grandfather's house in Yonwood (instead of in their current apartment in Philadelphia, and instead of her mother and aunt selling the house).
2. To fall in love.
3. To do something to help the world.
Nickie soon discovers, however, that Yonwood is not so peaceful as she had imagined. A local resident has had a terrible vision of war and fire, and lies half-conscious in her bed, mumbling to herself. The town's leaders, especially the bustling Brenda Beeson, set about interpreting the prophet's garbled words. They insist that if the townspeople can correctly interpret and follow the prophet's warnings, the people of Yonwood, at least, can saved. This seems reasonable to Nickie, because the country is so close to war, and because Nickie's own father is off on a war-related mission.
In between sorting through her great-grandfather's papers, hiding her new dog from her aunt, befriending a local boy who collects snakes, and spying on a mysterious neighbor, Nickie tries to help Mrs. Beeson to uncover any wicked behavior in the town. She accepts that the town has banned music and lights and other activities that the prophet, mysteriously, has forbidden. She accepts the ostracism of local residents who don't bend to Mrs. Beeson's will. But when the sacrifices demanded by the town start to hurt people she cares about, Nickie begins to question the words of the prophet.
The Prophet of Yonwood is a cautionary tale about the trampling of individual rights in the name of security. It's about what extremes of fear, suspicion and insecurity can do to otherwise rational people. Nickie is a likeable character who is initially swayed by the adults in her life, but ultimately comes to trust her own judgement. I did find The Prophet of Yonwood to be the faintest trifle heavy-handed in its treatment of trampled human rights, but overall I enjoyed this book. I especially liked that it set things up for The City of Ember, a book that I thought was wonderful.
The Prophet of Yonwood also reminded me a bit of Elizabeth Enright's books (the Melendy books and especially Gone-Away Lake). Jeanne Duprau has that same quality of understanding what kids will think is cool. You have Nickie digging around in an interesting old house, and going for walks with her dog in the woods, and decoding secret messages from her father, and watching Grover feed his snakes. Despite the dark things happening in Yonwood, and the cold winter weather during most of the story, I still kind of wanted to there, hanging around with Nickie, having adventures. I think that lots of kids will feel the same way.
A slightly longer version of this book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on June 13th, 2006.
A Good Addition August 16, 2006
Serena Lorraine
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
In all fairness, I will agree with other reviewers that this book WASN'T as "good" as the other two in the series. Well, there is definately a lot less going on in the story, anyway. But this is a PREQUEL to the City of Ember which means it doesn't necessarily have to involve the same characters. It all ties together in the end, and comes back to the original story. Just hang in there and don't dislike the book because it doesn't continue the story after the People of Sparks. A good addition to the series!
I look at the Ember Books as one great SET, not separately. July 4, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Prophet of Yonwood has been said to be not needed in other reports, but I think it is an important part of the trilogy. It tells what things were like before Ember. I like it 'cause you can accually relate to Nickie (main character). I imagined myself in her shoes, and felt her pain. This book is about a determined girl, with goals and dreams, who tries to do her best. Her curiousity is sometimes disoportune, but helpful to her in some of the situations. The Prophet of Yonwood tells you why Ember was created. I was really excited when I came to the end because you find out who the builders were. It isn't perfect- my fave chapter was the last one when everything is accually explained, but it was an entertaining book all in all. When I look as the books not as 3, but 1 GREAT SET, I give it an A+. At least give The Prophet of Yonwood a try. =)
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