Children's Book Has Hopeful Message
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
The Great Barrier Thief, the new children's book by Dr. Sue Pillans, takes
children and adults into another world under the sea while drawing attention to
the need to protect Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
A labor of love that took Pillans
(and her alter-ego Dr. Suzi Starfish) many years to write and illustrate, it
"offers messages of hope and how together WE can help protect and save the
Reef by cooling things down right away."
The Aussie marine ecologist and
artist says she has "always been drawn to the ocean and I just
love sea-ing the living colours of our Reef whenever I’m lucky enough to visit
them."
Unfortunately, she has also been witness to the bleaching of
the world's coral reefs, a process in which they turn white, losing their
vibrant hues as the algae and other nutrients within them die due to global
warming and environmental changes.
This endangers all the fish,
lobsters, clams, seahorses, sponges, sea turtles and thousands of other types
of sea life that depend on the reefs for survival.
And, so Pillans' tale begins, as a
feisty fish named Anthia sees the changes happening in her Great Barrier Reef
home and sets out to find the thief who is stealing its colors and get them
back.
Working from home in her "happy
place" art studio/laundry room, Dr. Pillans brought her story to life
while her "creative companions" Jack, the Great Dane, and Westie Mr.
Fergus cheered her on.
The book's publication couldn't have
come at a better time - 2018 is the International Year of the Reef.
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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the
exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint
it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit
groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is
given.
