Unbearable is the fifth in a series of collections of short stories by Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n author Paul Jennings

Paul Jennings (Australian author)

Paul Jennings AM is an English-born Australian children's book writer. His books mainly feature short stories that lead the reader through an unusual series of events that end with a twist.-Biography:...

. It was first released in 1990.

Licked

A boy who has bad table manners is often criticised by his father during meals. But when a visitor comes for tea, the father has made a promise not to talk about his son's faults, despite the fact that he performs them in the worst ways possible.

Little Black Balls

A girl tells her mother the story of how she helped one of her friends, who spends all his time wearing paper and watching the clouds and has many animals for friends, with an operation, and how she lost one of his jewels to a goat.

Only Gilt

A boy goes to school wearing a bird cage on his head. He explains to his teacher that it is a self-imposed punishment because he blames himself for the murder of his girlfriend's budgerigar.

Next Time Around

A boy gains the ability to hypnotise chickens. He later tries it on his best friend, then takes it to the next level by making his best friend remember his past life, but with disastrous consequences.

Nails

A boy gets stranded on an island with his father. But he has three other problems: one, he has never seen his mother; two, he is forced to watch his father die; and three, he has nails growing all over him.

Yuggles

A boy enters a mushroom-picking competition to win a large Easter egg for his sick little sister. But all his mushrooms except one get stolen, and that one mushroom has the ability to change shape and scare off mean people.

Grandad's Gifts

A boy finds a dead fox in a cupboard in his bedroom. But when he gets a call to pick lemons from his lemon tree and give them to the fox, it seems to come back to life.

Smelly Feat

A boy who has no sense of smell decides to wear his socks for three straight months, believing that doing so will cause nearby people to fall asleep. But the person he most wants to use them on is his enemy, who is planning to slaughter his 200-year-old turtle friend.

External links

• The book on Paul Jennings's site