City of Ember movie -- What the Kids Said

On Monday, I shared with you what I thought about the City of Ember movie. Today, I liked to share snippets of what students and parents had to say (**WARNING -- there may be spoilers ahead**):

-"I didn't like it any better the second time." This from a student who loved our read aloud so much, he got his own City of Ember book and read ahead so he could go see the movie the weekend it premiered. He managed not to let any of the movie secrets out of the bag because he didn't want to ruin it for me. But he loves Jeanne Du Prau. He is reading The People of Sparks, and should soon be starting The Diamond of Darkhold. Another fun note on this one, is that now his dad is hooked and reading all 4 books!

- One parent shared that he had not read the book, but really enjoyed the movie. None of the things that troubled me about deviations from the text got in the way of his enjoyment of a thriller of a movie.

- Standing outside the movie theater with a big circle of some of my students, we did a quick vote on who liked the book better and who liked the movie better. Nine out of ten DEFINITELY liked the book better!!

- "I wonder why they didn't mention about the mole in the book. I thought the book was different, but I enjoyed the book and the movie too!"

- "I liked the book more than the movie. I liked how they found the boats more in the book."

- "I liked The City of Ember book because there was a longer journey to Sparks, but I didn't like it because it wasn't as fun of a journey. In the movie, I didn't like it when the guy at the desk already knew about the storeroom, so he took Lina to the mayor."

- "I think the movie would have been better off without the mole."

- "I never imagined the river where the generator was. I imagined the Pipeworks walls to be nothing but dirt and wires instead of looking so technical."

- "I liked the book and the movie the same. What I liked about the movie more than the book is how the lockers turned into boats. What I liked about the book more than the movie is how they had to figure out what candles and matches are."

- "I like the book better than the movie. I like how they find the boats better in the movie."

- "I like how the Instructions are in the shape of the city in the movie."

- "I hated the rat/mole, but liked it when it ate the mayor."

- "This may sound cruel, but I really did not like the mayor so I was happy when he got eaten by the mole."

- "I liked the book a lot better than the movie because the movie skipped a lot of good parts, and 5 minutes into the movie, you were halfway into the book. It felt like it went very fast."

- "I loved how Doon, Lina, and Poppy found the boats. I also loved the mole."

- "I liked the mole because he made it really exciting (and because he ate the mayor). I also liked the way they got out in the movie."

- "I thought City of Ember, the movie, wasn't as intense as the book."

- "I wish that in the book the lockers would have been the boats like they were in the movie."

- "I think it's cool that Lina and Doon's dads were working together."

**So, there you have it. Mini-reviews of the movie vs. the book by my students.

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