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Have you ever dreamt of having an alien as a pet? Well lucky Tommy Cadle has this dream come true when aliens crash-land into his family home.
Unfortunately having a pet alien is not quite as Tommy had hoped and his easy life is turned upside down. When the enthusiastic little green extraterrestrial Dinko and his chaotic alien buddies try to help ‘Tommy of Earth’ they end up getting him into more trouble than ever!
When Tommy is too small to ride the new attraction at the amusement park the aliens use their special powers to help him grow bigger… and bigger. Cleaning the house is also a messy business when your pet aliens think the vacuum cleaner is a scary monster that’s trying to attack them.
If this wasn’t enough, Tommy must explain away the aliens’ actions to his neighbour Melba, a strong-willed girl who thinks Tommy’s a bit of a loser. Her snooty secret admirer Granville hates it when Melba so much as looks at Tommy and he’s certainly causing a stir now he’s got four aliens in tow.
13-year-old Tommy Cadle (or Tommy of Earth to his alien friends) had an entirely trouble-free existence, no problems, no hassles, no stress… until a group of aliens rudely crash-landed in his lighthouse. Tommy didn’t mind too much about Dinko moving in but the other aliens are just so demanding. Tommy loves Dinko, sweets, video games and sweets, in that order.
To a mere Earthling like you, this planet might seem too crowded, noisy and confusing. But to Dinko, Earth is so wonderful, so fantastic and so different from the snoring, boring dimension he comes from that he decided two things: to stay and to bring his pals. Dinko wants a best friend. He’s seen Tommy, he’s examined Tommy’s life and he thinks he knows exactly what Tommy needs: more Dinko.
Gumpers is scared of everything – shadows, sounds, vegetables, multisyllable words - despite being the biggest and strongest alien of the bunch. Passive, sweet and innocent, Gumpers has a very sweet tooth. You can see it – it’s his only tooth and it sticks out of his mouth like a big white enamel thumb. He’s forever in a quest for sweets and is also prone to arguing with his tooth, which has a personality all its own, and he is often found battling it for the last slice of chocolate cake.
Flip hates boredom. He’ll do anything to avoid it. Flip is a true alien troublemaker who refuses to waste time that could be spent having fun doing boring things like sleeping. Flip communicates with oddball sounds, weird eyeball movements, foot stomping and wild gestures. He doesn’t always make sense – even to himself – but he has so much fun he doesn’t care.
Scruffy is Dinko’s devoted "dog" and because Tommy is so important to Dinko, Scruffy is equally as faithful to him. Overly courageous and slightly clueless, Scruffy has taken it upon himself to protect the aliens and Tommy from...everything. Scruffy looks and acts like a dog. He can use his stretchable tongue like an extra hand and many times it seems as if Scruffy’s tongue has more common sense than the Scruffy himself. However his tongue also has a mind of its own and can act entirely independently from the rest of Scruffy.
Tall, blue and beaked, Swanky is very demanding and will only settle for the finer things in life. He truly believes he’s an aristocrat and the fact that he really does have blue-blood doesn’t really help. Selfish, egotistical and the hardest alien for anyone to get along with, Swanky is always scheming. He expects others to wait hand on foot for him - the very mention of the word “work” sends shivers down his multiple spines.
Melba is Tommy’s next-door neighbour and classmate and she’s always in charge. Always. She’s the school hall monitor, the neighbourhood watch leader, the school dance coordinator and anything else that needs a young, smart, know-it-all girl to hammer things into shape. Melba has many opinions - unfortunately for Tommy, all of Melba’s opinions of him are the same: loser. But she has taken him on as a “project”, knowing that she would like him, if he could improve himself.
Granville is a posh British kid (although for some reason the aliens think he’s from Norway) who lives in the neighbourhood. Granville has two great passions: British tradition and Melba Manners and one great hate: Tommy. Granville believes that Tommy is trying to steal Melba away from him although Tommy has no idea of this |
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