Picture of author.

Paul Jennings (1) (1943–)

Author of Unreal!

For other authors named Paul Jennings, see the disambiguation page.

113+ Works 4,472 Members 49 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Australian writer, Paul Jennings was born in England on April 30, 1943. He moved to Australia when he was six years old. He attended Frankston Teachers College and became a teacher. He then attended Lincoln Institute and became a speech pathologist. In 1989, he decided to become a full-time writer. show more His first title Unreal!, winner of a Young Australians' Best Book Award (YABBA), was published in 1985. His other works include the Singenpoo series, the Wicked! series, the Deadly! series, and The Nest. He has won numerous awards including the Kids Reading Oz Choice Award, the Books I Like Best Yearly Award, the Angus and Robertson Bookworld Award and a COOL Award for his title The Paw Thing. He also received the Golden Puffin Award in 1992 for selling 1 million books in Australia. In addition to writing, he visits school and lectures at conferences and seminars on encouraging children to read. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Paul Jennings

Series

Works by Paul Jennings

Unreal! (1985) 299 copies
Uncanny! (1988) 230 copies
Undone! (1993) 202 copies
Unmentionable! (1991) 184 copies
Unbearable! (1990) 176 copies
Uncovered! (1995) 139 copies
The Gizmo (1994) 138 copies
Quirky Tails! (1987) 136 copies
Unseen! (1998) 113 copies
Wicked: All Six Books In One (1997) 112 copies
The Paw Thing (Puffin Books) (1583) 104 copies
The Cabbage Patch Fib (1988) 101 copies
Deadly!: All six books in one! (2001) — Author — 92 copies
Round the Twist (1990) 86 copies
The Gizmo Again (1995) 85 copies
Tongue-Tied! (1600) 79 copies
Come Back Gizmo (1758) 66 copies
The Nest (2009) 52 copies
The Cabbage Patch War (1996) 47 copies
Singenpoo Strikes Again (1757) 47 copies
Deadly! Book 1: Nude (2000) — Author — 41 copies
Sink the Gizmo! (1732) 41 copies
Spooner or Later (1992) 40 copies
Deadly! Book 4: Hunt (2001) — Author — 39 copies
Wicked! Part 3: Croaked (1997) 39 copies
Wicked! Part 4: Dead Ringer (1997) 39 copies
Wicked! Part 5: The Creeper (1997) 38 copies
Singenpoo Shoots Through (1999) 36 copies
Rascal the Dragon (2004) 36 copies
Uncooked! - Three Stories (2005) 31 copies
Deadly! Book 5: Grope (2001) — Author — 25 copies
The Cabbage Patch Pong (2003) 24 copies
Rascal in Trouble (2004) 24 copies
Deadly! Book 3: Stiff (2000) — Author — 24 copies
Don't Look Now 1 (2013) 23 copies
Singenpoos Secret Weapon (2001) 23 copies
A Different Dog (2017) 22 copies
Rascal's Trick (2004) 19 copies
Deadly! Book 2: Brats (2000) — Author — 18 copies
Grandad's Gifts (1992) 17 copies
Almost Undone (2007) 17 copies
The Cabbage Patch Curse (2004) 17 copies
Rascal Takes Off (2004) 16 copies
Don't Look Now 2 (2013) 14 copies
Don't look now. Book 3 (2013) 12 copies
Rascal At The Show (2005) 11 copies
Duck for Cover (1994) 10 copies
Feast of Days (1982) 8 copies
A Different Land (2019) 7 copies
A Different Boy (2018) 7 copies
Eye of Evil (1986) 7 copies
Rascal Goes Fishing (2006) 7 copies
Rascal and Little Flora (2005) 6 copies
Rascal and the Monster (2006) 6 copies
Rascal and the Cheese (2005) 5 copies
Incredibile! (1996) 5 copies
Maggot (1992) 4 copies
Unreal! AND Uncanny! (1985) 4 copies
Katten kunnen niet lezen (1991) 3 copies
Rascal runs away (2010) 3 copies
Superdiary 96 (1995) 3 copies
The Spitting Rat (1999) 2 copies
Dodelijk ! (2001) 2 copies
Teacher-eater (1991) 2 copies
Rascal plays up (2009) 2 copies
Que desfeita! (2011) 2 copies
Come Back Gizmo Poster (2002) 2 copies
Flutter (1990) 2 copies
CORAGEM 1 copy

Associated Works

Mystery Stories: An Intriguing Collection (1996) — Contributor — 85 copies
Love Stories (1997) — Contributor — 10 copies

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Reviews

I felt bad going into this because I caught myself thinking, 'What if Paul can't sustain a novel-length story? What if short stories are his pace, and he runs out of steam?'

Dear past Lauren: you're an idiot.

This is a cracking read, with the usual great Jennings humour and creepiness and relatability. I initially thought that with the gang and the dare it would be 'A Good Tip For Ghosts' the extended dance remix. Again, past Lauren is an idiot. Nobody should listen to her. There's way more to this book than that.

The author's note at the end was a nice little bonus: 'I didn't make [character spoiler] an Aboriginal man because it is not my right to tell that story.' After talking with Ambelin Kwaymullina at last year's Continuum, the importance of Aboriginal culture and storytelling, down to who has the right to use which parts of language, has been on my mind and I appreciate Paul's respect of that.
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LaurenThemself | 2 other reviews | Feb 20, 2024 |
I never much liked Jennings and Gleitzman books. They were super popular with my classmates but I always just found them creepy.

Dawn and Rory hate each other. Unfortunately for them their parents, Jack (Dawn's dad) and Eileen (Rory's mum) are getting married. But they have to work together to save their parents when Rory finds his pets, the slobberers, are killing machines, sucking the life from anything they come into contact with and he put some in their honeymoon stew as a protest against their marriage.

This wasn't well written. All the characters are flat and there's a ton of backstory but all of which is lacking explanation. Dawn's mum apparently killed herself. On a bus. While other people were on it - one of whom was Rory. Rory's dad left his mum and him and never calls or writes or visits. There was no depth to the characters and every fact just brought up more questions.

And frankly I just didn't care. It was creepy and disgusting and I just wanted it to be over. 1 star.
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Flagged
funstm | 1 other review | Dec 1, 2022 |

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Statistics

Works
113
Also by
2
Members
4,472
Popularity
#5,606
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
49
ISBNs
667
Languages
11
Favorited
2

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