The Aquanaut

Author: Dan Santat
Illustrator: Dan Santat

© Date: 2022
Publisher: Graphix
Pages: 245
Chapters: No
Illustrations: Yes, graphic novel
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: Yes, along with some author notes there are some character development drawings and descriptions

Summary from Book: Who is the aquanaut?

Ever since her father was lost at sea, Sophia has been moping around Aqualand, a marine theme park. But Sophia’s world is turned upside down when an “aquanaut” breaks into the park’s research lab.

To her amazement, Sophia discovers that the aquanaut is not what it seems: Inside lives a band of goofy sea creatures! And when they all realize that Aqualand is more sinister than advertised, Sophia is determined to help the aquanaut crew free the park’s captive marine life before it’s too late.

Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this a short bit ago.

Page Pig Thoughts: Ever have someone tell you a story that made sense in their head but the retelling is missing the details for you to understand it? That is how The Aquanaut felt to me. A few pieces connected by the end, but for the most part, this one had several pieces that felt a bit disconnected. I loved the idea of the sea creatures in the diving suit, but the story felt more about other things.

This one is not just a silly story about some sea creatures controlling an old diving suit, this is more of a story of loss, loneliness, and humane treatment of animals. Fathers die, marine animals are scared in their tanks at a theme park, and a girl and man navigate life’s challenges. The opening sequence surprised me with the emotional intensity, but I thought that the story would go on to be more lighthearted. I was surprised that it never felt that way.

I was thankful that this one was a quick read. I don’t think that I would have read another night, so then I would have been left wondering if I missed an amazing ending where all the pieces come together.

Use caution with younger or sensitive readers, fathers dying may be rather upsetting, but also look through the Items of Interest below, other things may not settle well.

Family Unit: Sophia lives with her uncle after her father died in a ship crash

Conflict/Social Issues:

Paul struggles to navigate life after the death of his brother, Michel.
Sophia struggles to navigate life a bit on her own while her Uncle Paul takes care of her but spends all of his time at work.
The Aqualand manager does not care about proper care of animals or doing what is right, he wants to make money.

Positive Items:

In the end, Paul is able to realize that family comes first and finds a way to do what he loves, explore the ocean and spend time with his niece, Sophia.
Sophia befriends all of the creatures of the aquanaut demonstrating that sometimes all you need is a caring listener to help you navigate some of your issues.
The aquanaut works hard to free others of their fears, whether it is captive sea creatures or a scared girl.

Items of Interest:

The opening sequence shows a ship going down in a storm. Inside are two brothers. One brother gets trapped in a room. The other brother desperately tries to free him, but gets pulled away by someone rescuing him. The brother that is trapped can then be seen slowly going underwater frame by frame. When he is underwater, his hand lets go of a message in a bottle. The brother on the rescue boat cries out to his brother as he watches the ship sinking.
Sodapop the hermit crab has a memory sequence of exploring with his father. In the memory, they discuss his mother in past tense. Sodapop freaks out at hearing/seeing a sea monster (larger sea creature). His father asks him “what we do with bad thoughts in our head?” Then answers his own question, “we pull them out and throw them away.” His father holds him and calms him. When it seems safe, his father is standing at the edge of the seat that they were on and saying that “there’s nothing to be afraid of” when a sea monster eats him. Yes, Sodapop saw the whole thing.
Sophia’s Uncle Paul takes care of her after her father, Michel, went down with the ship. Five years after the accident, Paul is busy with work and does not see Sophia very often. Sophia is skipping classes, falling asleep in school, and failing tests at school.
Some sea creatures operate an old diving suit so they can walk on the ground, which is called space by them. The creatures can talk to one another, but not with the humans. The creatures think that the AquaLand theme park will be a safe place for them to live. Paul and Michel had collecting many different sea creatures for their collection at AquaLand, some of which are scared and not happy with where they are.
The creatures give Sophia her Dad’s old journal that as sealed in a plastic bag.
Paul is not happy about what the manager of AquaLand is doing with the theme park, but goes along with everything so that his research can be funded. Paul is upset about a dolphin petting zoo and an orca show, he believes that their reputation is a joke, but the manager says there is no money in saving endangered sea life.
The sea creatures pretend to be Sophia’s Uncle Paul to help her at science fair. They don’t talk and wind up putting one of themselves into a tank to help Sophia’s science project. Carlos the octopus that went into the tank winds up vomiting on Sophia’s teacher, Sophia then believes that she will get an F.
Three months after the science fair, Sophia is talking to the Aquanaut like a friend while discussing how she and her dad used to exchange seashells.
Sodapop sees that the orca in the Aqualand show is scared and hatches a plan to free the orca. The aquanaut then operates a winch to load the orca into the back of a truck. The aquanaut drives the truck into the ocean which frees the orca.
Sodapop’s dad shows his “space” stuff on the ocean floor, like an old fridge. His dad says that “humans dump things into the ocean when they don’t want them anymore.”
When the aquanaut freaks out a bit after seeing a “monster” in an aquarium, Sophia has her Uncle Paul check on the creatures. He deems them okay, but tells Sophia that the aquanaut has to leave because the manager will turn the aquanaut into a sideshow. Sophia then tells her Uncle Paul that she never sees him anymore and the aquanaut has been more of a family than him. Paul’s guilt has him deciding that he will try to keep the aquanaut safe.
When Sophia tries to take the blame for the orca so that Paul can keep his job, the aquanaut exposes itself to the manager to save them.
Paul has a conversation with the aquanaut. He tells it that he puts agave nectar that he hates into his coffee everyday so that he will remember his brother. And looking at the diving suit is like talking to a ghost because that suit is all Paul and Michel could afford at the time. The aquanaut gives Paul the message in a bottle that came out of Paul’s hand as he drowned in the ocean. The note says “take care of Sophia,” Paul has tears coming out of his eyes as he says that he never got to say goodbye.
Paul creates a fake aquanaut to save the creatures in the real one. At the big stage show reveal of the aquanaut, the fake one trips and everyone sees the human in the suit. Paul and the manager have a heated moment, Paul says that the only one that is through is the manager because he is still a world renowned marine biologist with credentials. The manager attempts to prevent the aquanaut and squid from escaping.
Sophia and the sea creatures of the aquanaut work together to free the aquanaut creatures. In the process Carlos the octopus loses a tentacle. The scene seems a little traumatic, but Carlos says that he can grow a new one. Sophia and Sodapop exchange a shell/can in a teary farewell.
Sodapop faces his fears with the big “monster” creature of the sea (squid) and manages to free that creature as well as his aquanaut friends.
At the end of the story, a message plays from Paul that Aqualand is closed. The loss of Michel left a big hole in his life, but he learned that home isn’t a place around you, home is the people around you. He and Sophia return to the sea on a big research ship.
The book ends with Paul navigating a submarine to the bottom of the ocean to meet the aquanaut at the site of the original ship crash.