Book 2 · Free to read here. Paperback on its way.
It is bedtime, but Cecil's ear has twitched. Far off, something is humming, so low and so deep that only a pug can hear it. So Henry takes three crayons, yellow, green and blue, and draws a submarine to go down and listen. The drawing shimmers. It sparkles. It grows, till the whole room glows a watery blue. Down they dive, past a shoal that turns all together, a turtle with a shell like an old picture book, dolphins too squeaky to be it, an octopus who changes colour, a shark who only looks, jellyfish like lamps, a pirate ship with one gold bone, and the black deep where Cecil's ears must lead. And then, out of the dark, the biggest of all, singing the song that called them down. A hint before every page turn, a wonder after it, and a lullaby to float home on.
Ages: Ages 2 to 5, with a grown-up-led Together mode for younger children
Themes: Bedtime, Imagination, The sea, Bravery, Wonder, Coming home
Henry draws with: yellow, green, blue crayons.
Find a copy
Watch and read along
This book read aloud at bedtime, for watching together. It lives on YouTube and is linked from Watch, never inside the children's area.
- Henry and the Magic Crayon: Under the SeaThe whole of book two, read aloud at bedtime: a crayon submarine, the reef, the deep dark, and a whale singing everyone home.
Inside the companion
Read the complete illustrated draft on screen, or use Read Together for page cues and prediction pauses with your paper copy.The games take their shapes from the story; the passport collects 23 stamps for this adventure.
Glug, Ping, Dive!
Close the hatch, switch on the lights, start the propeller and count down to dive.
Sponge seats, GLUG and PING, page 6
Crayon Submarine Workshop
Draw a submarine with magic crayons. Every stroke sparkles and becomes real.
Henry draws a fine submarine with a periscope too, pages 3 to 5
Guess Who's Swimming Past
Cecil peers through the glass. Listen to the clue and choose who is swimming past.
The repeating guessing pages before each creature
Count the Fish
Give the coral reef the number of fish Henry asks for.
The coral reef and the shoal of fish, pages 7 and 9
Fish Finder
Steer the crayon submarine up and down through the sea and find every fish in the shoal.
The shimmering shoal that turns all together, page 9
Quiet Moonbeams
Tap a few bubbles to hear soft sounds. Then just float and watch.
Moonbeams and a million small bubbles, page 26
Octopus Colours
Help the octopus change colour to match her friends.
The octopus turns pink, then purple, then blue, page 15
Treasure Sort
Sort the treasure: shiny things, round things, and one thing for Cecil.
The chest with one shiny gold bone, page 21
Whale Song
Listen to the whale and copy her song: low, high, long, short.
The whale sings a lullaby made for the seas long ago, page 25
Coral Breakout
Bounce a bubble off the submarine to clear the coral, picking out numbers, letters and whole sea words.
The coral reef, where the submarine's adventure begins
Bubble Pong with Cecil
Keep a beach ball bouncing between Cecil and a friendly crab, counting the bounces together.
Playing in the shallows before the dive
Bubble Muncher
Glide the submarine round a coral maze picking up pearls, the big ones in counting order.
Diving through the coral reef
Bubble Shooter
Aim and shoot bubbles to match three or more of a kind and pop them off the board.
Bubbles over the coral reef; an arcade visit, not a story scene.
Pond Hockey
Henry starts with the puck. Skate, pass and shoot in real time: tap the ice to skate, tap a friend to pass, tap the goal to score. Older players pass round gliding crayon snowmen and shoot past the octopus in goal, who rolls every catch back out.
Henry draws a frozen pond on his bedroom rug, and his friends from under the sea slide over to play: pass the puck, score a goal, and Cecil cheers every one.
Submarine Dash
Steer the crayon submarine along three sandy lanes, catching stars, crowns, goblets, keys and buttons. Hop over seaweed and steer round the sleepy rocks; a bump is only a soft bounce.
Henry's crayon submarine comes to life and skims the seabed with Henry and Cecil inside, catching the shipwreck's treasure on the way down.
Cheer-Up Reef
Tap a glowing spot to place one of Henry's crayon helpers beside the reef path. Sleepy fish, dolphins, jellyfish, turtles and a whale drift past; the helpers cheer them up until they wave goodbye.
Sleepy sea friends from the book drift along a reef path; Henry's crayon helpers bubble, sing, paint and tickle until each one wakes up smiling and waves goodbye, while Henry and Cecil watch.
Rock Pool Match
Tap a sea friend, then its neighbour, to swap them. Three or more the same in a line go off to play, and a page of friends fills up. No moves to run out of and no timer.
Henry's submarine finds a rock pool full of the book's sea friends; line up three the same and off they go to play, while Cecil cheers.
Explorer stamps
First Dive
Sea Artist
Shoal
Sea Turtle
Dolphins
Octopus
Shark
Jellyfish
Shipwreck
Anglerfish
Whale
Fish Counter
Fish Finder
Quiet Bubble
Sea Singer
Sea Reader
Sea Maker
Colour Changer
Treasure Keeper
Whale Singer
Coral Breaker
Beach Buddy
Pearl Diver
The refrain
In the book: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something silver is swishing past!"
In the companion: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Can you guess who's swimming past?"
In the second edition (October 2026) every guessing page gives a hint of who comes next (silver swishing, slow paddling, leaping and clicking, curly wriggling, big gliding, glowing, then the shipwreck breaks the refrain because it does not swim past, the black and the hum, something huge). The companion keeps the full spoken question as its refrain.