A 12-book read-aloud adventure for the whole family

The Tideline Chronicles

Sometimes the water glows. And when it does, it opens like a door.

Join five-year-old Timmy Calloway, the crew of the Morningstar, and one extremely light-fingered monkey on twelve voyages across the Saltworld — a sea of serpents, storms, glowing tides, and a sealed bottle that is always, always warm.

It starts with a boy, a beach,
and a wave that doesn’t behave.

Timmy is five years old, and he has very important opinions about sand. Then one Saturday the sea at the edge of his toes begins to glow — soft, old, alive — and pulls him through into another world entirely.

On the other side: a ship called the Morningstar. A captain with a very large hat who claims the entire ocean. A cook who only speaks in questions. A boy named Pip who has been waiting for a friend. And a small sealed bottle, always warm, that bumps against Timmy’s hand in the water… as if it chose him.

Twelve voyages. Sea serpents and impossible storms. An island that forgot its own name. A monkey who steals exactly the right things. And a Name inside the bottle, older than the sea itself, waiting to go home.

The Bottle

Sealed before the sea began. Always, always warm.

The Key

Cold, patient, and made for exactly one lock at a time.

The Compass

Does not point north. Points at the only thing worth pointing at.

The Twelve Voyages

The series grows with its reader — gentle first voyages for ages 4–8, deeper water for ages 8–12, at the pace a child grows.

  1. 1The Boy at the TidelineBook 1: The Boy at the Tideline
  2. 2The Island That Forgot Its NameBook 2: The Island That Forgot Its Name
  3. 3Captain Flint and the Backwards MapBook 3: Captain Flint and the Backwards Map
  4. 4The DeepwalkerBook 4: The Deepwalker
  5. 5The Tide That Wouldn’t ComeBook 5: The Tide That Wouldn't Come
  6. 6The Weight of WaterBook 6: The Weight of Water
  7. 7The ThornwayBook 7: The Thornway
  8. 8The Underwater CityBook 8: The Underwater City
  9. 9The Wraith TideBook 9: The Wraith Tide
  10. 10The Battle of AranonBook 10: The Battle of Aranon
  11. 11Drevane and the Last PassageBook 11: Drevane and the Last Passage
  12. 12The Name in the ClearingBook 12: The Name in the Clearing

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Preview of the illustrated Saltworld Map

The Saltworld Map

A beautifully illustrated map of the whole Saltworld — Maren’s Landing, the Thornway, the gold water, and the island at the center of everything. Print it. Pin it. Plot your voyage.

Preview of the exclusive short story, Pip's First Day on the Morningstar

An Exclusive Pip Story

Pip’s First Day on the Morningstar — a short story you can’t get anywhere else, about a stowaway, a biscuit barrel, and the day the youngest deckhand found a home. A perfect bedtime read tonight.

Preview of crew updates with behind-the-scenes art

First Light on Launches

Be first to hear when each of the twelve books sets sail — plus behind-the-scenes art and crew stories, once every couple of weeks. Never more.

Join the Crew of the Morningstar

The rope ladder is already down. Sign on and the Saltworld Map and Pip’s story sail straight to your inbox.

Meet the Crew of the Morningstar

Timmy

Timmy

Five years old. Says hello to most things. Carries a bottle that is always, always warm.

Pip

Pip

The youngest deckhand. Throws the rope ladder down before you even reach the ship.

Captain Jack Flint

Captain Jack Flint

Owns a very large hat, a suspicious compass, and (he insists) the entire ocean.

Willem Thorne

Willem Thorne

The first mate. Reads the sea like a book and old books like the sea. Says little. Means all of it.

Barnaby

Barnaby

The cook. Only speaks in questions. Shouldn’t everyone eat before the adventure starts?

Old Crane

Old Crane

Fifty years at sea. Says almost nothing. Is always, somehow, exactly where he needs to be.

Gordy

Gordy

The chronicler. Writes everything down, even mid-storm. Someone has to remember it.

Keeper the monkey

Keeper

The monkey. Steals buttons, spoons, and one very important key. It is not the captain’s monkey. (It is.)

Friends & Foes of the Saltworld

Sophia

Sophia

Timmy’s little sister. Keeps the count. Moves the pebbles. Understands more than she can say.

Julia, Timmy's mother

Julia

Timmy’s mother. Keeper of a very old journal. The Tideline waits for her.

Grandpa

Grandpa

Smells of coffee, wool, and sometimes the sea. Kept a folded paper for sixty years, just in case.

Old Maren

Old Maren

Blind, and sees more than anyone. Keeper of the Book of Names.

Captain Cora

Captain Cora

Of the green-hulled Bright Tern. Wastes no words and no wind.

Finn

Finn

Quick hands, quicker exits. Hard to get rid of. Ask anyone.

Caspar

Caspar

Keeper of the Ashport library. Forty years of records, waiting for the right reader.

Admiral Craw

Admiral Craw

Master of the Ironjaw fleet. Twenty years of taking. Wants what the bottle carries.

A Word for Parents

The Tideline Chronicles began as a bedtime story a dad told his own children — and the series is built for reading aloud: short chapters, warm humor, and the kind of sentences that are fun to say out loud.

The series grows with its reader. The first voyages are gentle, for listeners as young as four. The later books sail deeper water — courage, sacrifice, homecoming — on purpose, at the pace a child grows. A suggested age range comes with every book.

Beneath the adventure runs something quietly true: that children are named on purpose, loved before they arrive, and never lost to the One who made them. Written by a Christian husband and father, the series carries those convictions the way Narnia does — through story, wonder, and salt spray, never a sermon.

The tide is about to turn.

Get the free Saltworld Map and Pip’s First Day on the Morningstar, and be aboard before the first book sets sail.