Neil, the Amazing Sea Cucumber

Deadpan humor and a one-of-a-kind hero mark Neil as the most exciting sea cucumber you'll ever meet . . . even if he's the ONLY sea cucumber you'll ever meet!

There’s a lot to love about Neil: he’s named after a vegetable. Or is a cucumber a fruit? He loves to lie in the sand. And he has a best sea cucumber friend, Sandra, but she floated away in the undertow. Life is rather boring—until Sandra comes back! Unless that’s just a pickle someone threw off the side of a boat. . . it’s kind of hard to tell.

Full of wry humor and vibrant marine social life, this tale of a hapless sea cucumber is all about celebrating even the most boring—er, amazing—underwater creatures.Amelia Tonta has three kids, two chickens, and a hermit crab. Born and raised in Melbourne, she now lives in Canberra, where she spends her days writing kids' books, staring out the window thinking about kids' books, and occasionally just plain staring out the window. Amelia's first picture book, The Book Chook, was a CBCA Notable Book 2020 and shortlisted for Speech Pathology Australia's Picture Book of the Year. Her other books include Bad Crab, My Bird Bertie, Who Fed Zed?, and Mary Had a Little Lamb: What Really Happened.

Lucinda Gifford is a hardworking illustrator who has drawn the pictures for over forty books, as well as for lots of websites, videos, and posters. She has been drawing since she was a toddler in Scotland, when her teacher marvelled at her unusually terrifying sketches of witches. Now Lucinda lives in Melbourne and has a marvellous job where she gets to draw every day. Lucinda's favourite things to draw are castles, cavemen, and creatures with big teeth or tentacles.