The City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau

This is the first book in a series that my almost 9 year old son is reading. He said it was really good and I love to have an opportunity to talk about books with him. Since it is for kids, I was able to read this pretty quickly - I finished it yesterday. What a wonderful book! The metaphors were laying around like a really easy Easter Egg hunt, but there was enough adventure and action to hold my son's attention. The writing is simple and so is the story. The protaganists are two 12 year old children, Doon and Lina. They are the "good guys" but they can see how easy it is to succumb to the temptation of greed and anger. I really liked that they examined those choices realistically. There is evidence of beauty in frugality and hope in darkness. There is the absolute thrill of discovery and a really cool boat ride. My son is in the middle of the second book and it is easy to see how I named this blog - can I read that after you Joey?