Unbearable!. Paul Jennings

A couple of years ago, our librarian assistant introduced me to this book. I laughed outloud as I read story after story. They are a collection of highly unusual stories with quirky elements to them. When I shared them with that year's class they loved them and were somewhat surprised a teacher would read stories like that. I don't want to give anything away but I guarantee you will enjoy this book! After checking out some of the author's other books at the local library, this remains my favorite hands down.

"Unbearable" is a collection of short stories by Paul Jennings first published in 1990s. They're stories for kids, but are fun for all ages, sometimes weird, a lot of fun and easy to read. I really like this one, and there are quite a few classic stories here, seven out of the eight stories here being adapted into episodes of the second series of Paul's TV show "Round the Twist". "Licked" is all about a kid named Andrew and his dad. His Dad's a nice guy, but is bit strict about table manners. This one is short, and has a bit of a messy ending. "Little Black Balls" is a tale of opals, men dressed in newspaper and goat manure. A bit messy too, this one. "Only Gilt" isn't my favorite story of the bunch, but it's all right. A boy comes to school with his head in a birdcage, guilt ridden inside and out. A kind teacher listens to the boy's story of young love, injured birds, and wimpy dogs, trying to understand. "Next Time Around" revolves around a boy who can hypnotize chickens. It's very weird, very clever, and very funny. "Nails" is an atmospheric piece, set on a windswept island, where a boy discovers he has grown a second pair of fingernails. It's a bit sad in places too. "Yuggles" is silly, and features some mysterious jiggling mushrooms, and a couple of gross outs on the way. "Grandad's Gifts" is a bittersweet story about the ghost of a fox, and was adapted into an illustrated book of the same name. It's quite a good one. "Smelly Feat" is lots of fun, and is more or less about the power of the smell of unwashed feet. It's a nice ending to a good collection of stories. This, along with "Uncanny", "Unreal" and even "Unseen", would be a good introduction to Paul Jennings and contains some really fascinating stories. I liked them a fair bit when I was a kid.

All the stories in this book were either scary, exciting ,reliving, FUNNY. I've now read four of Paul Jennings books, Unbearable was the last one I read. It really kept me wanting to read more. I would stay up late with a flash light under the covers so I could read what was going to happen next. Highly recommended if you want a good book.

An Excellent book with many little stories with superb endings. Buy it and you WILL NOT regret it. Nice Cover too !!!