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Writer's pictureEmily

Do you know your Vampire Squid from your Sea Swallows?

I've always been scared of the deep sea. Whenever I go swimming, I scream if my foot brushes against Anything in the water. I'm terrified of sharks, and all the strange luminous sharp-teethed creatures. But I love swimming, I love the sea and I love watching nature documentaries even if sometimes I'm watching them from behind my hands.


In The Girl Who Lost Her Shadow, Gail and her older sister, Kay, dream of being marine biologists. They swim all the time, running in and out of the water, and exploring the rock pools near their home. To write this story, I learned about sea creatures I'd never even heard of before. I learned about: Hagfish, eel-like creatures that produce incredible slime and can tie themselves in knots; Wobbegongs, carpet sharks that look like small rugs moving along the ocean floor; Pinecone Fish, fish with headlights on their chins (which I loved so much they became my Instagram handle); Lion's Mane Jellyfish; Leafy Sea Dragons; Sea Swallows and much much more! And the more I learned about this magical extraordinary underwater world, the less afraid I became. Instead, I grew even more curious.


How much do you know about sea creatures? Can you match up the six creatures below with their description?

You can download an activity sheet of this quiz below:




In this story, Kay's favourite sea creature is a Giant Oceanic Manta Ray. It's huge and graceful and quite magnificent. My sister knitted me a mini ray to celebrate the launch of my book and you can see it in the photograph! What's your favourite sea creature?

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