Unbearable! by Paul Jennings

Recently I have been reading a number of Paul Jennings books, one of them being the series of short stories within the book, Unbearable! There are 8 short stories in the book, each lasting on average 10-15 pages, which is great for children who have short attention spans as they may finish a whole story in one sitting.

The stories are Licked, Little Black Balls, Only Gilt, Next Time Around, Nails, Yuggles, Grandad's Gifts and Smelly Feat. Each story is bizarre and ends with a slightly unpredictable twist.
Licked is a tale of a boy pranking his dad into believing that he licked the overused fly swat, when indeed it was lolly on the swat. Little Black Balls is an unrealistic tale that still has hints of reality as Sally's mum discovers little black balls in her pocket and the story begins of the paper man who saves animals and needs money to operate on one. This leads to the selling of an expensive opal to pay for it, and the eating of the opal by a goat randomly. Then Sally is forced to chase the goat around town waiting for it to poo out the opal.

The stories all relate to the theme of humour, and like many other books by Jennings the aim is to entice young males to read by intriguing them with humour. Paul Jennings' Website (for more titles)

These tales are suitable for boys (and girls) around the age of 9-12. The simplicity of the plots are contradicted by the unique structure that they contain.

By Emma Windebank

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