A team of authors have joined Book Wish Foundation‘s What You Wish For: A Book For Darfur project. Book sale profits will be donated to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), an organization building libraries in Darfur refugee camps in Chad.
Penguin Group’s G.P. Putnam’s Sons imprint will release the collection in September. If you make a donation of $20 or more before April 30th and your name (and your child’s) will be included in the book’s acknowledgment section.
Actress Mia Farrow, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has written the forward. The participating authors include: Cornelia Funke, Meg Cabot, R. L. Stine, John Green, Ann M. Martin, Alexander McCall Smith, Cynthia Voigt, Karen Hesse, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Jane Yolen, Nate Powell, Gary Soto, Jeanne DuPrau, Francisco X. Stork, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Sofia Quintero.
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The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau
Reviewed by Sheila Jones (Greenridge Chronicles)
When I first picked up The Diamond of Darkhold, I knew nothing about The City of Ember , or indeed any of the other titles in Jeanne DuPrau’s Ember series. I looked at the cover (which, judging from the bland frontispiece, seemed more intent on advertising the upcoming film) and thought “Hmmm.”
Then I started the first chapter, The Vault:
“Around the middle of the twenty-first century, when it seemed that a great catastrophe was about to engulf the world, an underground city was built as a last refuge for the human race. It was called the city of Ember.”
Okay, I thought, post-apocalyptic fiction. Fun. I read on:
“When the people emerge from the city,” [the builder] said, “they will find themselves in a devastated world.”
“Unfortunately true,” said his assistant.
The Builder and his assistant cook up a plan to stock some essential “head start” articles for the people of this city, to be hidden in a vault in a hillside near to where they would emerge, when the Earth is once again safe to roam about on. Only one catch:
The people of Ember came out of their underground city somewhat later than planned. Because they were in a state of bewilderment and exhaustion when they emerged, and because trees had grown up where trees hadn’t been before, they failed to notice the door to the vault.
Oh darn. They missed the vault for the trees. But wait, someone else finds the vault. Someone who is obviously unsuitable. Someone who can’t read and has a bad temper. And thus begins
The Diamond of Darkhold.
I should start by saying that I don’t believe you need to have read the first three books in this series. It will help for some of the more obscure-and-never-explained-even-at-the-end moments, but most of what you need is in that initial chapter: apocalyptic events threaten Earth, quick-thinking and very anonymous people develop a secret underground city and stock it with food, greenhouses, clothing, and buildings, not to mention a generator to power this underground city for at least 200 years, then lead selected adults and infants down to the city, where they are to form a new society, one to survive the apocalypse. Of course, I say this because I read Darkhold first, instead of last, but there was never a moment when I thought “Ugh, I wish I’d read the others before this one.” Never.
Darkhold takes up the story several months after the people of Ember have emerged from what we are told was a malfunctioning and slowly dying city. The people of Ember are not the only people to have survived the apocalypse, though; shortly after emerging they come across a town called Sparks, with a small but determined group of inhabitants living a hardscrabble life, and the Emberites set to work to assimilate into the sometimes resentful town. Life is hard for everyone, and more so for the Emberites, not having experienced things like wind and rain and cold. Plus, they didn’t bring much with them when they left Ember, and the people of Sparks are at times ambivalent about sharing what little they have. People get sick, people die, crops fail, and there is no real medicine to speak of. Someone needs to do something, and fortunately, someone does. Someone from the city of Ember. This is the story of
The Diamond of Darkhold.
I was quite enchanted with this book. In fact, I could hardly put it down, it was so gripping. DuPrau has a clear, crisp style that details in the sparest of ways, leaving one with the feeling that the reading was like having been on a roller coaster. The action moves along briskly, never lingering, the characters are vivid, their dialogue genuine, and even the bleakest moments zip along with a sort of breathlessness. I was left with the feeling that I’d just read a book written by an old pro.
And when I’d finished it, I went immediately to the library and took out
The City of Ember .
What Other Bloggers Are Saying:
Wands and Worlds: "There's plenty of excitement and suspense and adventure. And I really liked that what they found in Ember was different than what they - and the reader - expected. Fans of the Ember series will definitely want to read it.
" (read more...)
A Patchwork of Books: "A few new characters make their way into the ever exciting mix, as do all the favorites, in what turned out to be a pretty great adventure. The beginning moved slightly slower than I typically enjoy, but being a fourth book in a series a lot of back information was given for possible newcomers to the books.
" (read more...)
HomeschoolBuzz.com "There is some action with the adventure, and the author places an emphasis on teamwork, creative thinking, and the acceptance of each other.
" (read more...)
Becky's Book Reviews: "While The People of Sparks and The Prophet of Yonwood are more about ideas and philosophies, this one is pure action and adventure." (read more...) Also see an interview with the author at Becky's Book Reviews.
More Info:
- Reading level: Ages 9-12
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 26, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375855718
- ISBN-13: 978-0375855719
- Source: Review copy from publisher
Other Ember Books in the series:
***Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow live in the city of Ember, where lightbulbs are the only source of light. They are surrounded on each side by total darkness and because they have no way of creating a movable light (i.e. a flashlight), no one h
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Harvard Law School attorney Stu Rees did his thesis on comic strip syndicate contracts. Stu represented me and several other cartoonists and helped change the way syndicate contracts were written and negotiated. Here's a link to his thesis.
The Graphic Artists Guild keeps an eye on what types of contracts illustrators are having to sign. It offers a good resource for understanding contracts as well as offering some real-life contracts as examples. GAG Contract Monitor.
The Authors' Guild has Negotiating tips for nine typical contract clauses.
Famed Illustrator C. F. Payne has some strong thoughts on Work-for-Hire agreements. While hard to avoid, WFH agreements remove an illustrator's legal authorship to his or her work. You're not just selling rights, nor simply the original art, but your very claim to authorship. Not a new article but an important one, especially since Payne's career has skyrocketing (at least compared to mine!) since he wrote this article, indicating it's not necessary to sell out in order to make a living.
Our best luck is with clients who do not have a boilerplate contract. Oftentimes clients who do have a contract have "borrowed" it from someone else, rather than having an attorney draft one for them. In any case, it is better for the Illustrator to have his or her own boilerplate, often referred to as a Letter of Agreement (see GAG Contract Monitor above). This allows the Illustrator to have more control in the negotiation process, and creates a better opportunity to explain the terms for usage of rights.
It is best to grant usage rights as specifically as possible. For example, Exclusive North American print rights for one year in March 2007 issue of Passing Classical Gas magazine. After that point, all rights revert back to you.
Limit the number of unpaid revisions to one or two. Chances are this will halve your annual workload and double your income for the year! I'm only slightly exaggerating.
How do you know if you've negotiated a good deal? If afterward you don't feel like you just screwed yourself. Never be afraid to say No and ask for what you are worth.
Ted
