The Aquanaut: A Graphic Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and animal cruelty.

Dan Santat is a prolific children’s author and illustrator who writes and illustrates his graphic novels and children’s stories. He has authored over 100 books to date and became a Caldecott Medalist for his children’s novel The Adventures of Beekle: The Imaginary Friend (2014) in 2015. His other notable works include the middle grade graphic memoir A First Time for Everything (2023), which won a National Book Award, and After the Fall (2017), a children’s book and New York Times number-one bestseller. He also collaborates with other artists, with his artwork featured in Lisa Yee’s The Misfits, Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver’s Detective Duck, and Dav Pilkey’s Ricky Ricotta (“Dan Santat.” Macmillan Publishers). 

Santat grew up with a passion for illustration and decided to pursue it as a career in adulthood, despite his parents’ expectation that he become a doctor. His fiction and nonfiction works cover a wide range of topics and include genres from realism to science fiction and fantasy. The Aquanaut took Santat 10 years to complete from start to finish and evolved along the way.