Meet the Creators

Easton Tilicki

Author

Easton wrote this story as a school assignment in Mrs. Cook’s 6th grade class in 2008. He is now a Licensed Professional Engineer Specialized in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Easton has spent all of his post high-school years working on ships. From welding and cutting steel to operations at sea and eventually designing ships from the ground up. Continuously dreaming about what swims beneath the waves. His love for the ocean and its mysteries helped bring this underwater world to life—from shimmering sea creatures to the secret adventures that unfold far below the surface. With an engineer’s eye and a storyteller’s heart, he imagined how animals might work together like a crew aboard a ship, navigating tides, teamwork, and treasure. This is his first children's book—and a dream set sail. He believes every ship has a story—and every story starts with a question. Easton lives in Austin, Texas.

Niki Tilicki

Co-Author

Easton’s mom, Niki, is a teacher, writer, and lifelong lover of stories that spark wonder and make children smile. For over 35 years, she’s helped students explore the world through math, reading, writing, history, science—and the power of a good question. A fierce believer in kindness and community, Niki works to make education a place where curiosity thrives. Easton’s 6th grade story has been an earworm in Niki’s head since she originally helped edit it for him. Niki took the initiative to publish Easton’s story during the summer vacation and she and Easton edited it for publication together.

When she’s not writing, she’s likely teaching, on an adventure with her awesome husband, at the beach, hiking, or reading. This is her first picture book. She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her husband. Her mind still rows back to the journeys on the magical boat of her childhood in Poquot, New York, so hopefully, there are more adventures ahead!

Len Peralta

Illustrator

You can find Len Peralta’s quirky, offbeat style in comic books, card games, on t-shirts, posters and all over social media. Along with working on projects with companies like Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Steve Jackson Games, Boom! Comics, Rifftrax and Noggin, Len has illustrated several books including “There’s A Zombie In My Treehouse” by John “Widgett” Robinson and Ken Plume, “Silly Rhymes For Belligerent Children” written by MST3K’s Trace Beaulieu and “Super Powered Revenge Christmas” a full graphic novel with Bill Corbett (Rifftrax). His self-published graphic novel series, Exterminite, with Mikey Neumann and Kris Straub was named as a hot property for Hollywood to adapt.

Len is the resident artist every Friday for Tom Merritt’s Daily Tech News Show where he draws an original piece while the show is being recorded. His work has appeared on CNN.com, The New Yorker and at gallery exhibitions in Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Hawaii and San Diego Comic Con. Len was also listed as one of the Top 100 Geeks To Follow on Twitter by Wired Magazine. In 2018, he began teaching digital art, comics and graphic design at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Len has also been podcasting for over 15 years. He produces a show called Jawbone Radio (one of the first podcasts in the country), records his Geek A Week podcast on a semi-regular basis and is the co-host of Creature Geek with SFX/makeup effects pro Frank Ippolito.

Len resides in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio with his wife of over 25 years, Nora. Together they have raised (and continue raising) their seven children. He is a hirable art gun and you can ask him to work on your next project. He promises to be really super easy to work with.

Visit Len Peralta's Website