About this item
It's the end of the 21st century where technocrats rule and robots take care of humans' every need. Your house watches you, knows your secrets, and talks to you. And your closest friend can be - a machine? Gavin Bell and his teenage sister Fleur come from a middle-class family. Their much-loved, old-fashioned robot, Grumps, is running down and can't be repaired, so a scientist friend loans them EGR3, an experimental new robot to help Grumps. EGR3, known as Eager, learns from his experiences, as a child would. He feels emotions - wonder, excitement, and loss. When the ultra high-tech, eerily human BDC4 robots begin to behave suspiciously, Eager and the Bells are drawn into a great adventure that is sometimes dark and often humorous. As Eager's extraordinary abilities are tested to the limit, he will try to find the answer to this question: What does it mean to be alive?From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
I love Nature and all creatures great and small. I live close to a beautiful Park in North London, where I can often be found feeding the squirrels and birds. I love all birds but I am drawn to crows in particular, for though they are the least loved of all birds, they are very intelligent and charismatic.During my daily walks at the Park, I found that three crows would be at the same spot each time I went to feed them and before long I discovered they favoured meaty foods to seeds, so I tried my best to oblige. I noticed that when one would fly off the grass the other two would follow suit, so I gathered they must be a family; father, mother and perhaps their son? One afternoon, my crows weren't there and as I sat at the bench and waited, the younger one landed on the grass walking anxiously around. Seconds later, he took to the air circling low over the trees and cawing his little heart out. Was he calling his parents? Were his carks cries of fear and despair, had his parents abandoned him or even worse been killed? It was this scene that inspired me to write ' George the Orphan Crow and the Creatures of Blossom Valley,' a traditional storytelling that has been loved by many readers.
