Popplejoy Stories
by Derek Webb,
published on
Popplejoy and the girl who thought she was a telephone
Mrs Peach's daughter Emily thinks she is a telephone. She spends all her time sitting in the hail with her arms on top of her head like the reciever on an old fashioned telephone.
To make matters worse, it's Emily's birthday on Saturday and all Emily does is make 'brr-brr' noises.
Mrs Peach asks Popplejoy for his help. After trying many ways, Popplejoy actually uses Emily as a telephone to invite her friends to the party. This has the desired effect: once her friends have accepted, she becomes Emily again.
Popplejoy and the DVD that turned out all wrong
John James has a problem with his DVDs. Whenever he puts them in the player they turn out wrong. The ending is always different from what it should be. Popplejoy offers to have a look at the DVD. True enough, the ending is wrong and the hero loses. Popplejoy goes back home to pick up a special DVD he has - his holiday one. The trouble with Popplejoy's holiday DVD is that the ending is at the beginning and the beginning is at the end. This thoroughly confuses the player and it never again plays a DVD wrongly.
Popplejoy and the boring electronic keyboard
Jane has an electronic keyboard which she got for her birthday. It's what she always wanted, except whatever she plays on it comes out sounding exactly the same. No matter how she tries, it won't play anything except the same boring tune, Everyone else that plays it has the same trouble too. Then Popplejoy (who knows nothing whatever about music) has a go...
Popplejoy and the unhappy robot
A family have a robot to help with the housework. But he starts becoming careless and dropping things, ripping sheets and the like, they can't understand this and ask Popplejoy what he thinks. The problem says Popplejoy is that the robot doesn't have a friend...
Popplejoy and the grumpy toy shop
The local shopkeeper can't understand what's making his toy shop so grumpy. It traps his fingers in the till as he puts the money in. The door slams on customers as they come in. Toys refuse to budge from the shelves, then throw themselves on to the floor...
Popplejoy and the kite that wouldn't come down
David has a big, bright yellow kite which he can't get to fly. Popplejoy offers to help. Eventually he manages it which pleases David - until it's time to get the kite down again. Hard as they both try, it won't come. Then Mr Smiles (the most miserable teacher at David's school) comes by. His childhood passion was kites. He not only succeeds in getting the kite down, but, thanks to Popplejoy, manages to raise a smile too.
Popplejoy and the game console that ate a boy
Robert has a wonderful games player - 'Playbox 3' - that is his pride and joy. He's always buying new games for it with the money he earns from a paper round. One day he buys a new game called 'The Master Muncher'. He loads the programme, presses the button on his games controller and - a split second later - finds himself inside the television screen, being chased by the Muncher! And computers and such like, it must be said, aren't Popplejoy's strong point.
Popplejoy and the boat that lost its way
A small boy has lost his toy yacht on a nearby lake. It has drifted to an island in the middle. Popplejoy offers to row over to the island to retrieve the yacht. They land on the island and pick up the yacht. Unfortunately the oars of Popplejoy's boat have meanwhile floated away...