Illustrating Sage Sails The World: The Great Barrier Reef

The story, in brief

Grandma Jean’s bedtime story is about her own trip to Australia, where she swam the Great Barrier Reef and saw sea life of every colour — even a shark. So Sage and Benji go to see it for themselves: a long flight, then a boat across open water past dolphins, flying fish and a rainbow.

They put on snorkel gear and meet their guide, Kai. There is nothing there. No fish, no coral, no seaweed — just grey rocks. Kai explains that the water has grown too warm, that this is coral bleaching, and that the fish have lost their homes.

Sage’s answer is to tell everyone. She calls her friends one by one, starting with Zoey and Mateo: turn off lights, plant trees, ride your bike, pick up trash before it reaches the ocean. Children everywhere join in. The water cools, the coral takes its colour back, and the fish swim home. The book ends on a question: Now… where to next?

At a glance

From sketch to printed page

The sketch and the printed spread it became, side by side. The sketches are the real ones from this book, drawn in Procreate and approved before any colour was painted.

What The Rainbow Stories drew for this book

Character design for the new cast — Kai the reef guide, and Zoey and Mateo — approved before any page was painted, with Sage, Benji and Grandma Jean carried over from the sheets approved for book one. The character design portfolio shows what that stage looks like across other books. Line sketches for the whole book, drawn in Procreate, then rendered to finished colour. Interior illustration throughout and the cover. Formatting and print-ready files at 300 dpi with bleed, set up for Amazon KDP. Copyright transferred in full to the author on final payment.

The series

Sage Sails The World follows the same shape each time. Grandma Jean describes a place she once saw. Sage and Benji go to find it. It is not what it was, and the children do something about it. Book one went to the Arctic, looking for polar bears; this one goes to the Great Barrier Reef. Both are written by Diamond Spratling and illustrated by The Rainbow Stories, which is why the cast looks the same from one to the next.

What the author said

Amna was a pleasure to work with as always. She is very fast and excellent at what she does. This is my second time working with her to do illustrations for my book and it really brings my story to life. I highly recommend Amna for your book illustrations.

Questions authors ask

What is Sage Sails the World: The Great Barrier Reef about?

Sage Sails the World: A Little Girl’s Journey across The Great Barrier Reef is the second book in Diamond Spratling’s climate-adventure picture book series, illustrated by Amna Zaki of The Rainbow Stories. Seven-year-old Sage and her dog Benji travel to Australia to see the reef her grandmother described, and find the coral bleached and the fish gone. It is published and on sale on Amazon in hardcover.

Who illustrated Sage Sails the World: The Great Barrier Reef?

Amna Zaki of The Rainbow Stories, a children’s book illustration studio in Lahore. She illustrated the first book in the series as well, which is why Sage, Benji and Grandma Jean look the same from one book to the next. Amazon credits her as illustrator on the listing.

Is this part of a series?

Yes. It is book two of Sage Sails The World. Book one, Sage Sails the World: A Little Girl’s Journey Across The Arctic, takes Sage to the Arctic to look for polar bears. Both are written by Diamond Spratling and illustrated by Amna Zaki, and there is a case study for the first book on this site.

How do you keep a character consistent across two books?

From an approved character sheet rather than from memory. The turnaround, the expression sheet and the fixed colour values made for book one are the reference for book two, so the same girl and the same dog appear in both without being redrawn from scratch. New characters in this book were designed the same way before any page was painted.

What does the sketch stage look like?

Every spread is drawn as a line sketch and approved before any colour goes down. The sketches on this page are the real ones for this book, shown beside the printed spreads they became. A change at sketch stage costs a redraw of a few lines; the same change after painting costs the whole spread.

Are the illustrations drawn by hand or generated by AI?

Drawn by hand. The sketches are drawn digitally in Procreate on an iPad and painted by hand from there. Nothing in this book is generated by AI, which matters for a series, because a generated character cannot be held consistent across two books.

Who owns the illustrations when you hire a children’s book illustrator?

The author does. Copyright in the artwork transfers in full to the author on final payment, which is what lets them publish, reprint, license and sell the book without coming back to the studio. That is the standing arrangement at The Rainbow Stories on every commission.

Where can I buy Sage Sails the World: The Great Barrier Reef?

It is published and on sale on Amazon in hardcover, as Sage Sails the World: A Little Girl’s Journey across The Great Barrier Reef, ISBN 979-8992474916. It was published on 21 February 2026.