The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)

by T.J. Klune

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

And here, at the end, I hope that when you’ve reached these final pages, you feel a sense of optimism, and perhaps hugged the book just a little. I hope these characters will stay with you because I know they’ve stuck with me far longer than many of the characters I’ve written. I won’t ever forget what this island has taught me, or the time I spent there, going on adventures. I hope you won’t either. But above all, I hope you realize that yes, there is darkness in the world, but there is also so much light. As I write this in the final months of the year that won’t seem to die—2020, ugh—I understand that even with all the light, even with all the wonder and joy and triumph that this world can bring, we still have work to do. I’m not so naïve that I think everything will always work out. Life is not fiction. There isn’t always a happy ending, no matter how much we wish there to be. However, that should not stop us from fighting with everything we have, to lift up those who have for so long had their voices ignored. Or worse, silenced. A story can be just that: a story. But I will always believe there is power in the written word, power to help enact change for the better. And that power is within us all. Hate is loud; I wouldn’t try and tell you otherwise. What I will say is that we can be louder. We can drown out the hate, letting it sink below the surface of a cerulean sea. We owe it to ourselves, and each other. Remove your blinders. Pop your bubble. Find a garden gnome or a wyvern or an amorphous green blob named Chauncey who wants nothing more than to be a bellhop, and fight and fight and fight to make this world how it should be. I know we can do it. I hope you do too.