Penny Macoun

Gorkle Penny Macoun

Gorkle is a gremlin who lives in cyberspace. He likes to look at other planets beyond his home and is fascinated by the shiny satellites orbiting Earth. One day he tries to touch one, and when he does, a lot of colourful squares fly up into the air. He catches them and tries to keep them. He is visited by two humans who are looking for the missing colourful squares. They meet Gorkle and find what they are looking for. Gorkle tells them that he likes the messages. The humans explain that the colourful squares are text messages and they are how people communicate, and that when Gorkle keeps the messages he is creating chaos for the people on Earth who need to receive them. They say they will send Gorkle yellow text messages that he can keep but he must promise not to touch the other messages any more and they promise to visit him. They all keep their promises and become good friends. This fun and humorous book will appeal to both keen and reluctant readers, and will be a useful prompt for discussion of technology between children and their parents and teachers.