(Found!) Help Me Find The Title Of This Book!

Join me on this adventurous search! (See Epilogue)

There’s a story that I read about a decade ago, maybe even more, that I really want to reread and relive. Because I read it as a child though, I only have a faint memory of what it is.

Here’s your challenge: Based on my faded memories and poorly described minor aspects of the story, help me locate this book!

Here goes…

The story

It’s a young adult dystopian fiction, or something younger than that. I’m not entirely sure when I read it — I may have read it somewhere between fifth and seventh grade.

There was a girl who lived in some kind of world that was entirely underground. The only thing I truly remember from this world was that it was dystopian, some kind of post-apocalyptic world where there were few resources.

Specifically, the scarcity of resources meant there was some dude whose entire career was dedicated to combing through the remnants of litter and refining/ restructuring it for sale/ use.

The girl goes into his store for something and I think in that scene she saw rows and rows of yarn ends, here and there.

She discovers some kind of way out of this underground world. She finds a box??? In the box there may have been candles? There was also a boat. I think in some part of the journey she uses the candles to wax the boat to solve some kind of problem.

As you can see, my memories are vague.

The cover of the book

I think the cover of the book at that time was mostly gray, with a wisp of smoke and/or some kind of spotlight?

The title might be just one word. It might have been a fake word comprised of another word written backwards.

The book may have been part of a series but I think I only ever read the first book.

Vagueness intensified.

My memories of this book are so vague. It’s wild because I no longer remember the characters, plot, or even title, but I remember exactly how it made me feel. I remember loving this book dearly and revisiting the plot and world in my mind a lot in my childhood.

That’s why I wanted to locate it.

So! If this story plot rings a bell in your mind, let me know!

Epilogue

Edit May 29, 2021: Courtenay S. Gray found this book and tweeted it to me! The book is called The City of Embers, by Jeanne DuPrau. Full details here:

Lucy (The Eggcademic) has since started to track the books she reads so that in yet another decade she can come back to her notes and ramblings to relive not only the book, but how she connected with the books. She’d be over the moon if this swiss cheese of a memory description rings a bell for you!

What’s your next adventure? 🐇🌌

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