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image of person or book cover 4888817937631341185.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon Worry Warts single work   children's fiction   children's  
Issue Details: First known date: 1991... 1991 Worry Warts
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Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Misery Guts Mary Morris , ( dir. Brendan Maher et. al. )agent Australia : Barron Entertainment Steel Stem Poppy Productions , 1998 7445797 1998 series - publisher film/TV children's

'Keith is the only son of Vin and Marge Shipley. They live above a fish 'n' chips shop in South London and things are tough. Keith's parents are misery gutses and he is convinced that the only way for the family to regain its former happiness is for him to make his parents smile again. Keith embarks on a mission to cheer his parents up. He buys a brilliantly coloured tropical fish from Australia, where the sun shines all the time, the sea is full of fish and coconuts just fall into your hands. When all his efforts to cheer his parents up fail spectacularly, Keith decides he must somehow get his parents to Australia. People couldn't be unhappy in a paradise where fish sparkle like rainbows and it's sunny and warm all the time. Or could they?'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive

Notes

  • Sequel to Misery Guts.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Piper , 1991 .
      image of person or book cover 4888817937631341185.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 113p.
      ISBN: 0330272462
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Pan , 1996 .
      image of person or book cover 9222473177994079079.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 129p.
      ISBN: 0330358766
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon A Morris Gleitzman Collection Morris Gleitzman , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2015 8763145 2015 selected work children's fiction

    'Keith Shipley is a regular kid with Misery Guts for parents. Sick of gloomy life in London, he hatches a plan to move his even gloomier parents to sunny Australia.

    'But when they arrive in Australia, his parents become Worry Warts. Fed up with their fretting and fussing, Keith comes up with a scheme to make them rich. Very, very rich.

    'After all Keith's hard work, his parents split up and start putting on Puppy Fat. Exasperated with their laziness, he devises a strategy to whip them into shape - and find them new partners!

    'It's a brilliant plan ... if he can pull it off!' (Publication summary)

         Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2015
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

y separately published work icon Misery Guts Morris Gleitzman , Sydney : Piper , 1991 Z816368 1991 single work children's fiction humour children's

''I'm only going to say this once more,' said Dad, 'so listen very carefully. We are not ever, under any circumstance, going to Australia.'What does a kid do when his Mum and Dad are misery guts?Move them to a tropical Paradise, decides Keith. That'll cheer them up.It's a brilliant plan-if he can pull it off.' (Publication summary)
Worry Warts Eva Di Cesare , Tim McGarry , Sandra Eldridge , Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People , 2003 single work drama children's
— Appears in: Morris Gleitzman's Worry Warts [and] Ivy Shambitt and the Sound Machine 2010; (p. 4-65)

'Worry Warts tells the story of 11 year old Keith Shipley and his attempts to cheer up his "misery guts" parents.

'Keith paints his parents' car "hot sunflower and tropical parrot" to cheer them up. Then he discovers what's really making his parents miserable - their lack of money. So Keith decides to take matters into his own hands.

'With the help of his best friend Tracy, Keith learns that there's money to be made out in the opal fields in central Australia. Keith runs away to make a fortune for his parents. Along the way he meets a colourful cast of characters. One of them, Curly, from the General Store, strikes a deal with Keith; Curly will give him use of his opal mine for 24 hours if Keith paints Curly's store. Keith is desperate to find opals, so with Tracy following him, together they go down Curly's mine.

'In the darkened gloom of the dangerous opal mine Keith finally understands that there is only so much he can do about his parents' happiness and that sometimes change is inevitable.'

Source: Monkey Baa's website, http://monkeybaa.com.au/worry-warts.html
Sighted: 28/05/2009
y separately published work icon Morris Gleitzman's Worry Warts [and] Ivy Shambitt and the Sound Machine Eva Di Cesare , Sandra Eldridge , Tim McGarry , Daniel Evans , Brisbane : Playlab , 2010 Z1737422 2010 single work drama children's
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (3)

Works about this Work

Page to Performance : Children's Books Adapted for the Stage Nicola Robinson , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 27 no. 1 2012; (p. 8-11)
y separately published work icon Elements of Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature B. F. Haynes , Sydney : 2009 27495428 2009 single work thesis

'This thesis discusses the influence of elements of Bakhtinian camivalesque in selected contemporary Australian children’s literature. Many of the Bakhtinian ideas are centred on the work of Franqois Rabelais, particularly his five books collectively entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel. Aspects of the complex field of Bakhtinian camivalesque that have been considered include: attitudes to authority, the grotesque body and its working, the importance of feasting and the associated concepts of bodily functioning, customs in relation to food, and ritual and specific language such as the use of curses and oaths. The role of humour and the manifest forms this takes within carnival are intrinsic and are discussed at some length. These central tenets are explored in two ways: first, in relation to their connection and use within the narrative structures of a selection of books short listed (and thus critically acclaimed) by the Australian Children’s Book Council from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, and second, by means of contrast, to the commercially popular but generally less critically acclaimed works of other Australian writers such as Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. The thesis concludes by considering the ways in which camivalesque freedom is encouraged through and by new media.'

Source: Abstract.
Untitled Jeffrey Brown , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 10 no. 1 1996; (p. 16)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Writing for Children Morris Gleitzman , 1992 single work column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 7 no. 1 1992; (p. 5-10)
Untitled Pauline Thomas , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: The School Librarian , November vol. 40 no. 4 1992; (p. 145-146)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Untitled Jeffrey Brown , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 10 no. 1 1996; (p. 16)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Untitled Judith White , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald (Sydney) , 8 December 1991; (p. 108)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Untitled Joan Zahnleiter , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 7 no. 2 1992; (p. 30)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Untitled Christine Donnelly , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , vol. 36 no. 1 1992; (p. 29)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Untitled Pauline Thomas , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: The School Librarian , November vol. 40 no. 4 1992; (p. 145-146)
— Review of Worry Warts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction
Writing for Children Morris Gleitzman , 1992 single work column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 7 no. 1 1992; (p. 5-10)
Page to Performance : Children's Books Adapted for the Stage Nicola Robinson , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 27 no. 1 2012; (p. 8-11)
y separately published work icon Elements of Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature B. F. Haynes , Sydney : 2009 27495428 2009 single work thesis

'This thesis discusses the influence of elements of Bakhtinian camivalesque in selected contemporary Australian children’s literature. Many of the Bakhtinian ideas are centred on the work of Franqois Rabelais, particularly his five books collectively entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel. Aspects of the complex field of Bakhtinian camivalesque that have been considered include: attitudes to authority, the grotesque body and its working, the importance of feasting and the associated concepts of bodily functioning, customs in relation to food, and ritual and specific language such as the use of curses and oaths. The role of humour and the manifest forms this takes within carnival are intrinsic and are discussed at some length. These central tenets are explored in two ways: first, in relation to their connection and use within the narrative structures of a selection of books short listed (and thus critically acclaimed) by the Australian Children’s Book Council from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, and second, by means of contrast, to the commercially popular but generally less critically acclaimed works of other Australian writers such as Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. The thesis concludes by considering the ways in which camivalesque freedom is encouraged through and by new media.'

Source: Abstract.
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 28 Jul 2015 10:28:08
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