AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A collection of eight quirky, bizarre, and very funny short stories.'
Adaptations
-
form
y
Driven Crazy
( dir. Michael Carson
et. al. )agent
Australia
:
Barron Entertainment
,
1998
Z1892001
1998
series - publisher
film/TV
fantasy
children's
'Based on the stories of Paul Jennings, DRIVEN CRAZY follows the adventures of the Bourke family as they travel around Australia in their old Chevy wagon.'
Source: Screen Australia.
-
form
y
Wormwood
( dir. Mark DeFriest
et. al. )agent
Western Australia
:
Great Western Entertainment
,
2007
Z1845696
2007
series - publisher
film/TV
children's
fantasy
Based on various short stories by Paul Jennings, Wormwood follows the happenings in the small town of Wormwood, where the fact that the town's economy is based on the production and sale of worm excrement is not the strangest thing about the place.
Previous television series based on Jennings's short stories were Driven Crazy and Round the Twist.
Affiliation Notes
-
This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it has Chinese and Japanese translations.
Contents
- Batty, single work children's fiction children's (p. 1-24)
-
Moonies,
single work
children's fiction
children's
humour
'When an illiterate boy moves to a new school, the school bully has him sign a contract, which he does because he doesn't want anyone to know about his disability. Unfortunately, the contract means he has to moon his principal, ruining his chances of having his painting hung in the art gallery. However, the boy calls him a coward because the bully wouldn't moon and so he ends up doing it, but unfortunately for the bully, he gets into trouble.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
Noseweed,
single work
children's fiction
children's
humour
'A 95-year-old man enjoys cod-liver oil; his grandson does not. One day, while trying to breed a new species of apple in honour of his dead wife, his grandson comes over and is given his home-made muesli mixed with cod-liver oil in exchange for money for the movies. But since the grandson is unable to swallow it, the grandfather accompanies him to the movies. However, by leaving the oiled muesli in his mouth for too long, a plant grows on his face, which eventually produces the apple his grandfather wanted to invent.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
Wake Up to Yourself,
single work
children's fiction
children's
'A boy is always picked last for sports teams. However, he is about to get a baby brother. While sleeping on the night just before his brother is born, he dreams about a world where he has a mate who helps him all the time; this mate turns out to be a grown-up version of his brother. In the dream he also finds that his mother has died and he lives with his grown up version of his little brother, who is called Simon but is nicknamed Possum. When the boy's baby brother is born his mother cleans him and admires the new born and says "What a lovely little possum". Possum also has a birth mark the shape of Australia just like the dream version of himself.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
Thought Full,
single work
children's fiction
children's
fantasy
humour
'When a boy gets a new calf, his father wants to get rid of it, but the boy likes it so much, so he doesn't want that to happen. He eventually gets a bottle that, when drunk from, allows him to read peoples' minds.
'This is the only Paul Jennings short story that is told from a second-person point of view. This is because the boy wants the reader to experience how he felt.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
Clear as Mud,
single work
children's fiction
children's
horror
'When a new boy named Sammy Sams arrives at school, the school bully gives him a very hard time. But when the new boy discovers an unidentified species of beetle, he becomes respected by the school - with the exception of the bully, of course. So when the school tries to show the beetle to the authorities, the bully steals it and expresses a desire to pass it as his own discovery. However, he gets bitten; throughout the following day at school, his skin starts to become see-through. When it spreads to his entire body, he becomes a sideshow; embarrassed, he spends 10 years away from civilisation. The bully decides to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his exile by eating the beetle; the beetle bites him again, and he kills it. Afterwards, the bully's skin returns to normal and he decides to return to society, only to discover that everyone else in the world has developed see-through skin.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
What a Woman,
single work
children's fiction
children's
fantasy
'The only girl at a 16-student school gets teased often by all the boys, for the dual reasons of being the only girl and being the worst of all of them in athletic venues. However, when she brings her dead aunt's good-luck charm to school, she suddenly becomes better than them.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
-
You Be the Judge,
single work
children's fiction
children's
'A boy and his father live in the middle of the desert; despite the lack of customers at their tiny motel/petrol station, they believe that there will be even more because of a legend of a creature that lives in that area. One night, the boy goes out and spends several days wandering the desert, trying to find this legendary creature.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_(short_story_collection))
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 9 no. 1 1994; (p. 31)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction -
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 38 no. 1 1994; (p. 27)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction -
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 2 no. 1 1994; (p. 32-33)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction
-
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 38 no. 1 1994; (p. 27)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction -
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 9 no. 1 1994; (p. 31)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction -
[Review] Undone! : More Mad Endings
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 2 no. 1 1994; (p. 32-33)
— Review of Undone! : More Mad Endings 1993 selected work children's fiction
Awards
- 1996 winner KOALA Awards — Senior Book Listed on the awards website as having won both this award and the KOALA Award for Infants/Primary in 1994.
- 1995 winner West Australian Young Readers' Book Award — Hoffman Award
- 1995 winner West Australian Young Readers' Book Award — Younger Readers
- 1994 winner CROW Award — Years 6-7 Favourite Book
- 1994 winner BILBY (Books I Love Best Yearly) Awards — Read Alone section