...Of what, you ask? Well, they had so many lovely copies of Oliver and the Seawigs lying about that some of the Sea Monkeys ESCAPED. This happens from time to time. Here's our designer, Jo Cameron, in England, being mucked about by one of these rascally critters:
For a few hours, no one knew why so many things were going wrong in the office, but Sea Monkeys love ATTENTION and didn't stay hidden for long. In fact, they swarmed the board room, pinned down our editor and the design team and INSISTED they get full credit on the book cover. MONKEYS MEAN BUSINESS.
As seen previously in Manchester
Despite the concept of a 'Seawig' being a fine thing, the team had no choice but to give in to the wriggling hoard and accept their terms. So, in America, our book, starting in July, will be called... OLIVER AND THE SEA MONKEYS.
If you're in the USA and want the pre-monkeyed version, you'd better get on the case quickly, otherwise this is the one you'll see popping up in shops (and screeching EEP EEP EEP).
You can get lots of of fun free story-themed stuff on my website, including a pattern to knit your own Sea Monkey (designed by Lauren O'Farrell aka Deadly Knitshade):
As seen, also in Manchester
Learn how to draw your own Sea Monkey:
(Camilla's drawn a Sea Monkey, so you can, too...)
And design a Seawig!
I've also done a four-video series comics class that teachers can use with their classes, featuring... you guessed it, Sea Monkeys! Click here for all four linked videos, and do share, if you think any other schools would find it useful.
Philip Reeve and I have several videos you might enjoy:
If you're on Twitter, you can browse the #Seawigs hash tag to see lots of fun costumes, Sea Monkeys and shenanigans, or start on the new hash tag, #OliverandtheSeaMoneys.
Here's the link to our Reeve & McIntyre Facebook page! And here's the Random House page for Oliver and the Sea Monkeys.