Shocking News: My Sea-Monkeys Have Escaped!

As some of you already know, I've been raising Sea-Monkeys as part of my research for illustrating SEA-MONKEY AND BOB by Aaron Reynolds (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2015).

Well, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I went upstairs this afternoon to find an empty aquarium and a note (see photo). My Sea-Monkeys have left me for greener pastures (bluer waters?). Ah, how I will miss my wee watery denizens: Micky, Peter, Nyarlathotep, Alan, Mary Margaret, Bilbo, Sojourner, Boris, Pochyk, Pippa, Sea Monkey Killing Unit #1, Tarquin, Brunhilda, Delphine, Monkey Doo, Brooke and Russell.

I do admit to a brief moment of suspicion that SMKU#1 forged the letter to cover up a heinous crime ... but then I remembered his poor penmanship. He could never have written this note.

Anyway, it looks as if my friend Annie Walker is off the hook -- she had originally promised to bake a cake for every Sea-Monkey who survived a full year. But now that they've fled, I have no way of knowing. I'd like to think my tiny briny friends will find their way to lovely temperate waters where they will frolic in crowns and sing Sea-Monkey songs as they wave their miniature tridents in time to the beat.