Bright, colourful illustrations painted by Brenna Smith, the author's daughter

Illustrator of The Underwater Mystery, Brenna Smith has loved painting ever since she was old enough to hold a paintbrush. Her high school art teacher says:

"Ideas always intrigued Brenna, so her art projects were always well done, and often included some subtle humorous twist. Brenna’s illustration work for The Underwater Mystery demonstrates that same quality of interesting composition, with a playful feeling which will appeal to all ages."

Brenna and her mother brainstormed ideas for The Underwater Mystery together and then Brenna made a couple of initial paintings while Helena wrote the first few pages. Feedback from others was positive and Helena would email Brenna portions of the story as it developed. Brenna got busy, creating a total of 27 paintings as the basis for the book’s illustrations.

In Brenna’s spare-time during this creative illustration process, she had a baby girl and was (and still is) an honours science student at university. Brenna is 23 years old.