The characters are beautifully drawn - Linus, basically an orphanage investigator / Department in Charge of Magical Youth caseworker who is rule centered and thorough. Arthur - the father figure. And then there are the kids - each a magical being. The really cool thing about this book is that each character is more than the sum of their parts. Both individually and as part of the story. For example, one of the children is Lucy, the Antichrist (but we do NOT use that word) who is six years old and speaks in dark words and thoughts. BUT he loves to help in the kitchen and go on adventures. Arthur truly believes that nurture can overcome nature and is working with Lucy to overcome his evils. Linus want to protect the children.
This book has met with some controversy. Klune had the threads of this story running through his mind but then learned of the Sixties Scoop, in which Canadian indigenous children were placed into government sponsored facilities with the goal of adopting them out to white families - and this story gelled for him. (You can read his interview here.) Some people are angry believing that Klune co-opted a story that was not his to tell. But I do not fell that to be the case. Note that the sixties scoop is not that only time that children have been torn from their homes and placed in government facilities, this has happened in other times and places. Note The House in the Cerulean Sea is not about that experience. Note that it isn't even hinted at. And note that this book is about kindness and hope. Finally note the words of Mark Twain,
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
This book gathers the threads of various ideas and weaves them into a new and different story that is fun, funny, and heart warming. AND a little bit Harry Potterish as it weaves realistic fiction and fantasy together.
There are lessons in this book about how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves. Here is one of my favorite quotes,
"Humanity is so weird. If we're not laughing, we're crying or running for our lives because monsters are trying to eat us. And they don't even have to be REAL monsters. They could be the one we make up in our heads."
If you want a treat, if you want a reality check steeped in fantasy, if you want to laugh - read this story.
(It is available through the Nashua Public Library in both print and as an ebook)
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