Summer Reading 2021: The House in the Cerulean Sea

The House on the Cerulean Sea

by TJ Klune

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. - Goodreads

[Check out an intro by the author below!]

  Geoff Ruth, Academic Dean

Past picks by Geoff:

• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
• The Curfew by Jesse Ball
• The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
• The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
• Snowball Earth by Gabrielle Walker
• Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert
• 1984 by George Orwell