Spacehoppers

Friendships are the testing ground for life. Not everyone passes. Sixteen-year-old Buddy Clemson doesn't have many friends so when he meets a stranger about his own age, he's willing to overlook the young boy's outlandish outfit and his strange habit of talking to himself. Little does Buddy know that he's just met a visitor from the remote planet of Betelle who is in training to become a Galactic Ambassador.

Glitch and his computerized trainer, Qwirk, are stranded on Earth when their spaceship runs out of fuel - just the first unexpected twist in the jinxed training mission. While Qwirk instructs Glitch to consider their time on this "pre-transformed" planet as just another part of his training, it doesn't take long for Glitch to realize his first assignment may also be his last.

He becomes enmeshed in the drama of Buddy's life, including a love triangle that could get them both beat up by the local bully, Task Taylor. Glitch's chance to become a Galactic Ambassador is in jeopardy not to mention his ever seeing his home planet again.

W. Bradford Swift's love of books began as a young boy when his next-door-neighbor took pity on his mother who he hounded relentlessly to "come out and play." Mrs. Crabtree, the children librarian at the local library, brought home a pile of books carefully selected to hook a young boy's imagination. Swift has been caught ever since. He is also the author the Zak Bates Eco-Adventure series that starts with Dominion Over All. (Sample chapter included.)