The People of Sparks

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What elements must be present for something to be considered a community? How might a community be important? What kinds of conflicts may arise in a community, and what might be the best way to resolve those conflicts?

Teaching Suggestion: The People of Sparks is the second novel in the City of Ember series. In the first novel, the protagonists, Doon and Lina, emerge from the underground city of Ember that was created due to a global disaster on Earth’s surface. As the people of Ember emerge, they must rely on the small town of Sparks to host them while they learn new skills to survive on Earth’s surface. Tensions arise in Sparks due to the scarcity of resources and lack of cohesion between the two communities. To help students prepare to read about these issues, consider discussing with students what defines a community, what conflicts may arise in communities (especially when there is an influx of people combined with a lack of resources), how communities can be important, and how conflicts within and across communities can be resolved. These or other resources might be useful as support in considering elements of communities:

• This article describes what community is, why it is important, and how to cultivate it.
• This article describes how to create community cohesion.

Short Activity

Review the author's previous book, The City of Ember, to make predictions about what may happen in The People of Sparks.

Review Questions:

• How would you describe the character of Doon from The City of Ember?
• What was the important goal of the people of Ember in the first novel?
• How would you describe Lina’s character in the first novel?
• Why do the people of Ember need to leave their homes?
• What is the role of ingenuity and problem-solving in The City of Ember?
• What were the occupations of Lina and Doon in The City of Ember?
• What was the leadership of the city of Ember like?
• How do the people of Ember feel about change?
• What is the reaction of Doon and Lina to the world outside of the city of Ember?

Prediction Questions:

• What will the Emberites find when they leave Ember?
• What conflicts might arise in Ember?
• What will Mrs. Murdo do with the note she finds?
• What might the world be like on the surface?
• What originally caused the Emberites to go into hiding?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from reviewing The City of Ember to make predictions about what the characters will encounter in The People of Sparks. One way to review the concepts of the book might be to allow students to discuss review questions in small groups. The creation of a graffiti wall may be used to help students make predictions about what will happen in The People of Sparks. Graffiti walls can be created by posting a large piece of paper on a wall to allow students to record thoughts about events that occur/may occur in the novel. Consider posting predictions and referring to them throughout the course of the novel.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who require additional scaffolding or a creative alternative to answering the summary/prediction questions above may benefit from creating a book summary of The City of Ember. Students could do this by creating a book trailer to recount important details of the first book to share with peers. This book trailer activity could especially appeal to visual or auditory learners or students who demonstrate visual-spatial intelligence.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Describe a time when you felt like you didn't fit in or someone didn't want you to be part of the group. You may also describe a time when you witnessed someone being excluded. What can make people feel as though they aren't welcome? What reactions or behaviors can result from this kind of experience?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from understanding the connections that exist across the concepts of belonging referenced in the above prompts, the themes of the Ember novels, and the importance of embracing diversity. As a follow-up to the above prompts, consider helping students make these connections by asking: What are ways people can learn to value the differences they encounter in others? Depending on if/how a discussion of these concepts progresses, as an extension, you may also ask: How can the experience of being excluded influence one's voice, one's trust of others, and one's sense of belonging?