Most Popular Books by Jeanne DuPrau

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

It's been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Now, struggling through the harsh winter aboveground, they find an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device from before the Disaster, which they believe is still in Ember. Together, Lina and Doon must go back underground to retrieve what was lost and bring light to a dark world.In the fourth Book of Ember, bestselling author Jeanne DuPrau juxtaposes yet another action-packed adventure with powerful themes about hope, learning, and the search for truth.From the Hardcover edition.

*The People of Sparks* picks up where *The City of Ember leaves off*. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn't long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town's resources are limited and it isn't long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it's up to Lina and Doon to discover who's behind the vandalism and why, before it's too late. *--From the Hardcover edition.*

Earth is in danger! The only thing that can save our planet are six essential elements that can fuse into a new source of clean energy. But the elements are scattered throughout the galaxy. And it s up to the Voyagers a team of four remarkable kids and an alien to gather them all and return to Earth.

In these first three books of Ember, young people in a future world face the fear of impending war, seek escape from a decaying underground city, and work to help immigrants make a home in a city stretched to its limits in the wake of "the Disaster."

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.*

After their involvement with a Zen Buddhist Center intensifies, the author and her companion Sylvia decide to design and build their own rustic home on a plot of land DuPrau has bought from the center. The effort to create an ideal house soon turns all-consuming, but this memoir of its ups and downs also grapples with the subject of mortality, as Sylvia becomes ill.

Carrying a solid gold statue they have discovered, a group of American archaeologists flee Kalim when hostile rebel forces overthrow the government.