The Prophet of Yonwood

April 3, 2006
This third book in DuPrau's series is billed as a prequel to the first two (The City of Ember
and The People of Sparks
), but the connection is tenuous. Eleven-year-old Nickie Randolph wants "to do something helpful for the world," which is on the brink of war. Fear of terrorist activity is wreaking havoc in American cities. Against this backdrop, Nickie and her aunt travel from Philadelphia to Yonwood, in the North Carolina mountains, to prepare Nickie's great-grandfather's home for sale. Yonwood is a tense, parochial town, where the fevered ramblings of an older woman have been seized upon as "visions," and the woman hailed as a prophet. Local busybody Brenda Beeson, whose mantra is "one moldy strawberry can ruin the whole basket," zealously takes charge, interpreting the Prophet's messages and building a "shield of goodness" against impending evil. DuPrau scatters the text with intriguing elements—clues hidden in postcards, mysterious writings about "eleven dimensions" found in a journal—but they function more as entertaining distractions rather than to advance the story. DuPrau unfortunately undercuts the novel's more serious themes—the nature of goodness, and of God—with a manipulative, rather nonsensical denouement. But while the plot never fully ignites, the smooth writing will carry fans of the first two books along, and there's ample room (50 years) between this book and Ember
for yet another prequel. Ages 8-12.

October 1, 2006
Gr 4-8-Nickie longs to escape from her life in Philadelphia where everything seems to be going wrong. She thinks she has found the perfect haven in her great-grandfathers estate in Yonwood, NC. But the war between the United States and the Phalanx Nations seems imminent and the Church of the Fiery Vision takes over the town, and all her goals seem farther away than ever. In Yonwood, people are not what they seem. The host of characters include a prophet and her interpreter who the townspeople blindly follow, a girl in the closet, a boy obsessed with snakes, and a hermit who can crack open the sky. Jean DuPrau has created an unusual prequel (Random, 2006) to "The City of Ember" (2003) and "The People of Sparks" (2004, both Random). Rather than the pre-apocalyptic climate one would expect, the backwoods setting, the humming bracelet, and the robot vacuum cleaner give the novel a strange anachronistic feeling. Becky Ann Bakers depiction of the native North Carolinian accent is believable, and she voices all the characters perfectly. Sound effects enhance the telling. Listeners new to the series will have no problem following alongthis title can stand on its own. The ending drags a bit as DuPrau tries to wrap up all the subplots. Ember fans will be a little disappointed that only the subtleties in the last chapter, What Happened Afterward, point to "The City of Ember". This timely novel offers astute observations about human relations, the fallibility of human perception, and the danger of over-zealousness."Ann Crewdson, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA"

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