Quirky Tails facts for kids

Quirky Tails is a collection of short stories by the famous Australian author Paul Jennings. It was first published in 1987. This book is the third in a series of story collections by Jennings. Some of the stories in Quirky Tails explore more serious themes.

About the Stories in Quirky Tails

Sneeze'n Coffin

This story is about a girl whose mother marries an undertaker. The girl feels embarrassed because her new stepfather always drives his hearse. He also tells her younger brother that his coffins are like boats. This makes the younger brother launch a coffin into the water. The family is disgraced, but the undertaker does not seem to care. The girl's life feels messy. Things get really interesting when the undertaker brings a dead body home. The girl then gets locked in a room with the body.

Santa Claws

A boy visits a hypnotist on Christmas Day. He has a very tiny mouth, as small as a marble. The boy explains in writing what happened. He and his younger brother went Christmas shopping. They met a Santa Claus with claws for fingernails. This Santa gave them, and their older sister, two wishes each. This story was later made into an episode of Round The Twist.

A Dozen Bloomin' Roses

This story follows the narrator's meeting with a boy named Gerald. Gerald buys a dozen roses for a girl. He has many embarrassing accidents. He spends most of his grandmother's money. He also ruins the flowers on the train. A local bully, Scouse, publicly embarrasses him. Gerald then runs into a train tunnel. Something bad happens with an oncoming train.

The narrator struggles with what happened to Gerald. Suddenly, 12 roses appear from their hand. It seems like a gift from Gerald from beyond. Later, the narrator has a fight with Scouse on a train. The train suddenly fills with roses. This helps the narrator and stops Scouse. At the end, we learn the narrator, Samantha, was the girl Gerald bought the flowers for.

Tonsil Eye 'Tis

A boy loves garden gnomes very much. He gets a gnome that has a face inside its mouth. The boy manages to get the face out of the gnome's mouth. But then, the face ends up in his own mouth! And an eye starts growing on his finger.

Unhappily Ever After

This story is about a school principal. He enjoys punishing students who cause trouble. He also punishes people who say mean things to him. One day, he goes for a boat ride. He gets caught in a strong current. He is then forced to watch strange images. These images show people experiencing what they made others feel.

Spooks Incorporated

Two boys love to pretend they are ghosts. They haunt houses so the owners will sell them. They create a mechanical headless chicken. They plan to use it to scare the owner of a pub in Melbourne. But then they discover the pub is truly haunted. It is haunted by a real headless chicken!

The Copy

A boy has a doctor as a friend. He visits the doctor every day to see his new inventions. The doctor's newest invention is a machine that can copy people. The boy decides to copy himself. He wants his copy to help him deal with a bully. But his copy starts causing problems. It steals his tea, then his girlfriend, and finally, it tries to take over his life. This story was later loosely made into an episode of Round The Twist.

Stuffed

A young man works by removing cane toads from people's yards. He releases them into a swamp. Even though cane toads are an invasive species in Australia, he loves them. He even has two pet toads. A man named Frisbee lives nearby. Frisbee sells souvenirs. He also starts clearing toads. But Frisbee is different. He enjoys killing the toads. He stuffs them to make new souvenirs. Can the young man stop Frisbee from harming the toads?

No Is Yes

A man has kept his 14-year-old daughter, Linda, inside their house her whole life. He is the only person she has ever talked to. He has taught her to speak in a mixed-up way. He uses words like 'yes' and 'no' in opposite ways. He wants to show how people learn to speak.

A young plumber visits the house. He is shocked by what he sees. The father lets the plumber try to explain the experiment to Linda. The father is sure she won't understand. The plumber tries many times. As the story goes on, Linda starts to show signs of understanding what her father has done.

At the end of the story, the house catches fire. Linda's father is trapped inside. A fireman asks Linda if anyone is still in the house. She tells him 'no'. But what she means by 'no' is not clear.