Creatures Of La Mer

A ragtag group of tide pool creatures must find a new home after theirs is swept out to sea by a storm.

Led by sibling rock crabs, Sherman and Shelly, they learn the value of sticking together and relying on friends and family with various virtues and talents to overcome obstacles and elements, such as sharks, eels, stingrays, giant spider crabs, and human beings!

The story was intended to be an introduction to literature for young readers: Metaphors, Similes, foreshadowing, and allusions, specifically. But in the end, it is a tail of tiny sea creatures who defy the odds by sticking together and helping each other.

Some may think the story is too "graphic" or "scary" but this is how I remember nature in the tide pools as a boy growing up in Southern California. We used to go fishing most weekends during the summer at Aliso beach before there was a pier or parking lot. Only, surf, sand, the tide pools, and my imagination.

I have seen every creature mentioned in this story in the tide pools or caught them very nearby with a fishing pole using bay mussels or squid for bait.