Searching for Treasure
A lush, joyful picture book celebrating the wonders of a walk on the beach and the treasures to be found on the high tide line, with a gloriously surprising gatefold finale.
Searching for treasure on the high tide line.
One step, two steps, what can you find?
Discover sea urchins and shark's eggs, ghost crabs and cuttlefish, limpets and barnacles and so much more. From award-winning creators Johanna Bell and Emma Long, this magnificent read-aloud tale celebrates the joy of discovery.
What has the sea washed up?
Can you find its hidden treasures?
In this magical book, a walk on the beach becomes a joyous, creative adventure.
Credits
Illustrations : Emma Long
Publisher : Allen & Unwin
Design : Sandra Nobes
Released : 2025
Praise
‘Sometimes a book comes along that you are certain is going to be a classic … Searching for Treasure is one of those.’ (Pat Pledger, ReadPlus)
‘A lush, joyful picture book that will resonate with everyone who has ever wandered the beach at high tide looking for treasure.’ (Mia Macrossan, Story Links)
Resources
Allen & Unwin have created teaching notes for primary school teachers.
Author’s note
Searching for Treasure is a book about discovery and the joy of uncovering something rare. It’s a celebration of our coastlines and all the varied and unique ways that marine species have adapted to thrive in the sea. It’s a book about cycles; the ebb and flow of the tide; the uncovering and recovering as the beach reshapes itself; the death that follows a storm and the life that lives in the items washed ashore. It’s a game of hide and seek, peeling back layers to discover new plants and animals and it’s a slow meander along the high tide line, kneeling down to look closely at the micro worlds that exist under a pile of seaweed or a giant cuttlebone; losing track of time, becoming absorbed by minutia. Searching for Treasure is an ode to childhood and all the discoveries we make when we’re gifted time to explore the natural world.
I grew up between Sydney and the Solomon Islands and much of my childhood was spent at the beach. I was that kid with her head down wandering off, my parents waving their arms and yelling at me to come back. I was always trailing sand through the house and bringing pockets of flotsam and jetsam home. Once, I pocketed an enormous shell and realised, too late, when the smell became unbearable, that it had been home to a hermit crab.
It was my dad who taught me how to walk the high tide line, searching for treasure. I knew him as quiet man but at the beach he became animated, crouching down, pointing out different species and telling me all kinds of facts. He would get particularly excited when we came across something unusual – the carapace of a rock lobster, the claw of a ghost crab or the operculum from a marine snail.
When I was three, massive storms struck the coast of Sydney. Afterwards, dad took me down to the local beach to look for flotsam and jetsam. I remember there were piles of seaweed almost as tall as me and the air tasted salty from all the sea spray. The ocean was still churning and we were the only ones on the beach. I remember feeling excited but also a little scared, shadowing dad in case the storm returned.
When I was three, massive storms struck the coast of Sydney. Afterwards, dad took me down to the local beach to look for flotsam and jetsam. I remember there were piles of seaweed almost as tall as me and the air tasted salty from all the sea spray. The ocean was still churning and we were the only ones on the beach. I remember feeling excited but also a little scared, shadowing dad in case the storm returned.
When I was three, massive storms struck the coast of Sydney. Afterwards, dad took me down to the local beach to look for flotsam and jetsam. I remember there were piles of seaweed almost as tall as me and the air tasted salty from all the sea spray. The ocean was still churning and we were the only ones on the beach. I remember feeling excited but also a little scared, shadowing dad in case the storm returned.
That day, on the high tide line, we found a weedy sea dragon, washed up. I knew it was special because dad bent down very slowly and lifted it up gently, as if it were still alive. ‘Darling,’ he said. ‘This is very rare. Some people look their whole lives and never find a sea dragon.’ Together, we marvelled at the bright oranges and purples and the camouflaged leafy wings. It really was a tiny dragon and we’d found it!
We took it home and dried it in the sun and once the smell had gone, I took it to preschool for show and tell. I was so incredibly proud to have found such a thing and the preschool teachers made a big fuss about how special it was, placing it in the centre of the show and tell table. But the next week, when I went to collect my beloved treasure, it was gone.
I was inconsolable and despite the best efforts of my parents and the preschool staff, no one knew where it had gone.
Ever since, I’ve been obsessed with sea dragons. I’ve lost count of the number of beaches and the number of hours I’ve spent searching high tide lines. I never did find another sea dragon but along the way, I discovered hundreds of other species and a deep love of beach combing. I love the way the world drops away as you focus on the sand in front of you, recognising species, naming them, turning them over in your hand and marvelling at all the things the sea gifts us.
When I wrote this book I wasn’t thinking about the sea dragon but I must have mentioned it to Emma and she must have sensed how special it was to me because in the final pages of the book, when the girl is allowed to dream, that’s what she creates – an enormous sea dragon, more beautiful than any I’ve ever seen.
Emma is an incredibly talented biological illustrator with a vivid imagination and an impeccable sense of composition. In this book, she brings those three things together to create a flotsam and jetsam experience that is both of this world and of a magical world. Reading our book, it’s as if I’m a child again, searching the high tide line, discovering new species for the very first time.
This book is an ode to my childhood and the Australian coastline which has given me so much joy over the years. I hope that our oceans and our coasts stay wild forever and that children, for many generations to come, experience the pure delight of discovering treasures on the high tide line.
