In the summer of 2020, Stephie had the idea of writing a children’s book. During her doctoral thesis she had done research on Zanzibar, an island off Tanzania’s coast, and the beautiful underwater captivated her. During her time on Zanzibar she first started to work on seagrass meadows and in the following year she focused her research on this beautiful underwater forests. Paula had also been to Zanzibar to work on her doctoral thesis and was immediately motivated to paint the illustrations. Inspired by the work of her friend and colleague Fay (yes, Fay and her daughter Chloe are real people!) Stephie wrote a story that teaches children how special seagrass meadows are, what threats these underwater forests are facing and what happens when they are destroyed. In addition, the story also shows what can be done to save them.
Due to the great support of the University of Oldenburg, the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) and Isensee Publishing in Oldenburg our dream could be realised. Many drafts and drawings later, our first children’s book is now finished!