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.

While visiting the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina, eleven-year-old Nickie makes some decisions about how to identify both good and evil when she witnesses the townspeople's reactions to the apocalyptic visions of one of their neighbors.

Lina and Doon are thrilled to see their people join them above ground in the vibrant village of Sparks, but suspicion and prejudice soon turn the villagers and newcomers against each other.

Several hundred years in the future, in a world where fossil fuels are no longer used as a power source, a thirteen-year-old boy named Keith joins a jet pack project that will give people the ability to fly.

For centuries, the residents of the underground City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights and quiet contentment. But when the City's massive power generator begins to fail, the streetlamps fade - along with the hopes of the townspeople. Now it will be up to two courageous teenagers to follow a trail of clues left by the ancient builders to find the way out of Ember before their world is plunged into complete darkness.