The House in the Cerulean Sea

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is a fantasy novel? What characteristics might be evident in the subgenre of “modern” or “contemporary” fantasy? Have you read any books—or seen movies or played games—in this subgenre?

Teaching Suggestion: Students are likely to know what a fantasy novel is but may not know much about the subgenre of modern fantasy. You might encourage them to make their best guess about what the characteristics of this subgenre are before exposing them to the sources listed below or similar resources for investigation. Once students are clear on the definition of modern fantasy, they will doubtless have examples of such stories that they have read, viewed, or played and might enjoy discussing these stories with one another.

• A general overview of fantasy genres by The Editorial Department
• A thorough explanation of modern/contemporary fantasy from the Public Library Association

2. What is an allegory? Does everything in a story have to be allegorical, or can a story just have elements that are allegorical? What are some examples of allegories?

Teaching Suggestion: Depending on their educational backgrounds, students will have varying levels of familiarity with the term “allegory” and varying experience with reading allegories. If this is an entirely new concept to many of your students, you might offer them the following resources before they attempt to answer these questions.

• A definition with examples from the Oregon State University Guide to Literary Terms (includes a 4-minute video version)
• A 5-minute video from Creative Writing Magic explaining the term and giving examples

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Modern (contemporary) fantasies often contain elements of social criticism. If you were writing a modern fantasy, for what aspect of our society would you want to offer some criticism? What message about this aspect of society would you want your story to convey?

Teaching Suggestion: Although this question is intended to prepare students to watch for elements of social criticism in Klune’s novel, it does have the potential to elicit answers that are not productive to discuss in a classroom setting. Consider having students answer this question in writing—or, if they are answering aloud, prepare them in advance with guidelines about what is appropriate to discuss or share in your classroom. If your students are ready for the challenge, you might also ask them to offer ideas about allegorical elements they could include to convey their messages about society.