I read "Project F" with my 7-year-old son, Bean, and we were both excited to begin. The novel has a similar concept to "The City of Ember" where a dystopian society has to survive after a cataclysmic event. However, instead of being underground, the survivors of "Project F" are striving to bring the world into a new future.

Reading chapter books with a young child takes longer because we read a chapter a night and take turns reading pages. Bean often asks about the meanings of certain words, so it takes even longer. "Project F" has an interesting concept about a little boy and his cousin who happened upon this secret project to bring the world into a new future, but the more we learn about the project, the more Keith questions whether progress for the sake of progress is a good thing.

There are some fantastic parts of the story, such as the mystery of what Project F is, what happened to the world to get it to where it is now, and why aren't we developing new technologies. However, most of these questions are underwhelmingly answered. In fact, the big revelation is that the world went belly up due to fossil fuels. We know that this is true, but instead of finding cool new ways around it, the book is preaching about how bad fossil fuels are.

Furthermore, the book includes multiple sub-stories that seem to have nothing to do with the main plot. For instance, there is a character named LuLu, Keith's 5 or 6-year-old cousin, who befriends a neighbor who is a hoarder. LuLu's aunt then breaks into the neighbor's house and "cleans it out for her." This act is presented as necessary, but it is not okay.

Additionally, there is a group of girls called the Tuesday Lunch Club who go on adventures on Tuesdays. This part of the story also seems to have no real point. If you take out all of the extra sub-stories, then "Project F" would probably only take up about half of the book.

Overall, I was thoroughly disappointed with everything about this book. It was kind of boring, didn't stay on point, and had a preachy ending. Although Bean thought it was okay and had some funny elements, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for an instant classic.

I was very excited to read this book in hopes of using it in my classroom. I loved the City of Ember series and thought this would offer the same excitement for the students. This book had a great start with future world ideas and consequences. It did a great job putting the characters together and explaining their backgrounds. When I got to the middle of the book, I found it to be predictable, lacking excitement at times, and with themes and stories that reached to tie together well. While I found it an easy read, I left disappointed with how it ended and left nothing really resolved.

I really enjoyed this book. It took a little to get moving, but once it did I was on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the world and how the author makes you feel like you are living in it with Keith and his family. I also appreciated how the author tackled Keith's moral dilemma and his cousins guilt over the loss of her family members.
As with all of Jean Duprau's books, I highly recommend this to anyone. It's especially great for younger readers or anyone who enjoys a dystopian look at the US and what Climate change might lead us too.

I received a free E-ARC from Random House Children's, Random House Books for Young Readers & Netgalley for my honest review.

This book is a fascinating and thought-provoking read. It is a dystopian novel set in a future where climate change has wreaked havoc on Earth and people live a simpler life. The protagonist, Keith, uncovers a secret mission known as Project F, which is advanced, scientific, and has the potential to change the world. Keith is excited to be a part of this adventure, but he must also weigh the risks involved.

I am particularly interested in the book's exploration of timely questions about the Earth and our use of its resources. It is a bold novel that asks us to consider how much we are willing to risk to save the future.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction, thought-provoking stories, or books that explore important environmental issues.

Jeanne DuPrau has fabulous story ideas about the future of humankind and our civilization. I love the creative slant of her stories. City of Ember occurs when people are forced underground in order to survive, and cataclysm is not far behind. In Project F, civilization has once again had huge setbacks. People still live above ground, but the human population seems to be concentrated in just seven cities. Surrounding them all are mountains and mountains of discarded detritus - automobiles, airplanes; anything that functioned on fossil fuels. At some point Queen Eleanor decreed the immediate stop of all use of fuels like coal, oil, gas. Civilization falls into ruins, but the human spirit lives on and people find a way to cope and survive.

Young Keith is sent on a mission to retrieve his cousin, Lulu who is just 6 years old, after the sudden death of her parents. On the train ride, he meets Malcolm, and it changes his life. Malcolm offers a glimpse into a different way of living than he knows and it forever changes Keith's world. Lessons of desire, of learning the past and the why's of how things happened, and also, what greed can do to a person - and a society, if allowed to run rampant.

The storyline is riveting. Duprau's descriptive dreamy writing style is appealing to younger readers. Even of her books explore hard topics, such as the end of civilization as we know it, they still provide an avenue of hope and the belief that not all is lost.

It's hard not to compare Project F to DuPrau's breakout story/series City of Ember. Both are similarily dystopian. Both relay messages of what could happen if humans keep going on our current trajectory. The first series clearly outshines the second, if for nothing more than its originality. But, if the reader can get away from that, I feel they'd find a lot to love about this book. I really loved the world/character building of the first half. It filled me with wonder. The second half struggled with pacing and I felt it pushed the moral too heavily. Regardless, I would read anything DuPrau published and I hope this means there are more stories to come!

Title: Project F
By Jeanne DuPrau

Summary:
Thirteen year old, Keith Arlo, sets out on a adventure for the first time by himself. his task is to travel the train and pickup his cousin, LuLu, whose parents recently passed away. LuLu will come and live with Keith and his family. While on the train, Keith accidently switches bags with a new friend. While searching for clues on how to return this bag to his new friend, he discovers a secret...and deems it necessary to search for his friend.

Review:
Jeanne DuPrau's new novel Project F is the first novel I have read by this author. It is written for middle grades and I felt it was written well for this audience. The main character, Keith, desires to make good choices, but quickly is sliding a slippery slope of morals and ethics. This work of middle grade fiction truly requires students to contemplate, how far as you willing to go to get what you want? and in the end...is it worth it? The pace of this novel is slightly slower, but it doesn't detract from the overall novel. Several people saw political agenda with fossil fuels in this novel, however, I feel for middle grades it was a perfect fit.

Thank you to Jeanne DuPrau, Random House Children's, Random House Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for the Advanced Readers Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#ProjectF
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#JeanneDuPrau
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#middlegrade

Such a great middle grade post-apocalyptic book! I’d missed DuPrau’s style, and I’m ver glad she’s back in action!

When Keith Arlo first learns about Project F, it is exciting - but he soon starts to question aspects of it. Something just doesn’t seem right.

I was a big fan of DuPrau’s City of Ember series when I was younger, but I did not enjoy Project F. It was very heavy-handed in its message and made me feel like I was being lectured about the risks of using fossil fuels. The author’s note at the end was like an extra slap, as if the message in the text was not clear enough.

I don’t know how a middle grade reader would receive this book, but I will not be the one to recommend them this book.

Not a fan, very disappointing because I loved the City of Ember series. This was just propaganda about not using fossil fuels. I'm not sure how this would appeal to middle grade readers, except for a boy getting to fly with a new contraption that was being made. A post apocalyptic world after it stopped using fossil fuels cold turkey. It just kind of fell flat and the world building wasn't done very well. I thought it was quite interesting that the author thinks burning wood for steam is healthy for the environment since that is what the trains in these cities used. Disappointed also that the author felt the need to point out that characters were chubby multiple times. Speaking to a younger audience, you should not be teaching kids that it is ok to comment on other people's bodies. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

It should come as no surprise that this author (City of Ember) would give us a story set in a time far into the future; a time without cars, planes, or IPhones. A time where society has come back from the brink of extinction caused by climate change. But what if there was a group 13 yr old Keith stumbles upon that is developing a flying machine Would people dare to return to the old world? Thought provoking for sure.

This book presents an interesting concept; namely that society will be forced to give up many of the technological advances of the present to insure a future. It aligns with the ideas that are floating around today about the future (or harsh reality) that the world may face.

Top reasons to read this book!
You adore post-apocalyptic stories
You are interested in climate change
You like diving into a mystery
You’re a middle-grader who loves to read
If you believe today’s readers are tomorrow’s leaders

Project F is a dystopian novel from the author of The City of Ember, and embraces a similar theme: humanity nearly destroyed the planet, and thus itself, and the only way to save itself was to return to simpler, lower technology existence. In Project F, the use of any type of fossil fuel is strictly forbidden, with the result that transportation is by wood-burning locomotive, animal-drawn cart, and on foot, with other forms of power being similar. There are only seven remaining cities, connected by train, with smaller towns scattered throughout the Wild - areas of uncultivated wilderness between the cities and towns, where plants and animals are allowed to live undisturbed by people.

Kevin Arlo is a 13 year-old boy who is sent to retrieve his cousin Lulu after a tragic accident leaves her an orphan. On the train trip to bring Lulu home to his parents, Kevin encounters another traveler, Malcolm, who accidentally takes Kevin's bag and leaves his own behind. On the return journey, Kevin takes Lulu with him to trade the bags back - and discovers Project F, the project that Malcom is working on, an invention which could revolutionize transportation, and possibly their entire world - but Kevin and Lulu need to keep the secret until the project can be unveiled.

This novel starts well and is very engaging, but then it slows down, with digressions into interludes about Kevin's neighbor, Amity, which could have been left out of the story without particularly changing it. The language of the novel is sometimes a bit stilted, which can make it slow to read. But the overall story is a good one, appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students, and the novel would be a good read-aloud. Be aware of possible triggers for readers who have lost a family member due to accident.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝔽
𝗝𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘂
Children’s Fiction
224 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

Keith, a thirteen-year-old boy, lives in a world where all fossil fuels have been illegal for hundreds of years. The only modes of transportation are horse and buggy and trains run by burning wood.

When he stumbled across the chance to fly, he took it. This opportunity comes at a cost.

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs

I think this is an excellent story. I am a retired elementary teacher, and I kept thinking about the discussions this story would bring about. From some of the negative reviews I read, people feel like they are being preached at and, therefore, gave Project F a less than favorable review. I didn’t feel that way. Yes, it was about how fossil fuels ruin the earth, but it is also a fictional story that opens discussions about this issue. I don’t see that as a bad thing.

The story does include some scenes that seem unnecessary to the story. They didn’t hurt it either, though. This was a short story that didn’t really world build a whole lot. It didn’t get deep into the characters either, but it was a good story.

~Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

Kind of weird, kind of interesting. The author's note was my favorite part.

Several hundred years in the future, fossil fuels are a thing of the past and highly illegal. The world is a much different, simpler place.

The writing feels different than City of Ember. I enjoyed the story, it was a quick read and an interesting premise on what could happen.

This book had potential, but was a little disjointed for my taste.

I appreciated the different look of a future where we don't use fossil fuels, but the pacing was lacking.

(This review is based on an uncorrected e-galley of this novel)

In a future post climate change with no cars, planes, or cellphones, 14 year old Keith uncovers a secret project, Project F. Malcom, the lead on Project F, promises Keith that it will shape the future, an adventure Keith desperately wants to be a part of. But how much is Keith willing to risk for adventure?

As stated in the author's note at the beginning of the novel, Keith is our protagonist, but he's not really a hero. It was a nice change of pace, but I felt like the story didn't have as much of a climax/resolution as it may have if Keith had been more of a traditional hero. Overall, I enjoyed seeing that an author I loved as a kid is still writing novels. I'm hoping that Project F ends up being a series as well!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for an e-ARC of this novel.

I think Project F was well written and engaging until the end. I was left a bit unsatisfied and confused by an extra storyline that seemed unconnected.

Project f
By Jeanne Duprau

An apolitical story about the over use of fossil fuel. The story shows an idealized look at the world after the end of fossil fuel use.
The book shows the nature of responsibility to self and society. The idea of using care to help others without punishing them. It's and idealized world shows a clean society but it has its dark places. The restricted knowledge causes problems for the society.