Undone (short story collection) facts for kids

Undone is a super cool collection of short stories by the famous Australian author Paul Jennings. It was first released in 1993. This book is the seventh in a series of awesome story collections by Paul Jennings. Interestingly, none of the stories in this book were turned into episodes for the TV show Round the Twist.

Stories in Undone

This book is packed with eight amazing and sometimes weird stories. Let's dive into what each one is about!

Batty

This story is one of the exciting tales you'll find in Undone.

Moonies

Imagine a boy who can't read or write moving to a new school. A school bully tricks him into signing a paper. The boy signs it because he doesn't want anyone to know his secret. But guess what? The paper says he has to make a rude gesture by showing his bottom to the principal! This ruins his chance to have his amazing painting shown in the art gallery. However, the boy cleverly calls the bully a coward. The bully ends up doing the rude gesture instead and gets into big trouble!

Noseweed

This story is about a 95-year-old man who loves cod-liver oil, but his grandson really doesn't! One day, the grandfather is trying to grow a new type of apple. He wants to name it after his wife who passed away. His grandson visits and is offered homemade muesli mixed with cod-liver oil for movie money. The grandson can't swallow it, so his grandfather goes to the movies with him. But because the grandson keeps the oily muesli in his mouth for too long, a plant starts to grow on his face! This plant eventually grows the special apple his grandfather wanted.

Wake Up to Yourself

This story is about a boy who always gets picked last for sports teams. He's about to get a baby brother. The night before his brother is born, he has a dream. In his dream, he lives in a world where he has a grown-up friend who helps him all the time. This friend turns out to be his older brother, named Simon, but nicknamed Possum. In the dream, his mother has passed away. When his real baby brother is born, his mother cleans him and says, "What a lovely little possum!" The baby also has a birthmark shaped like Australia, just like the grown-up brother in his dream!

Thought Full

A boy gets a new baby calf, but his dad wants to sell it. The boy loves the calf so much and doesn't want it to go. One day, he finds a special bottle. When he drinks from it, he can suddenly read other people's thoughts!

This story is unique because it's told from a "second-person point of view." This means the story uses "you" a lot, making you, the reader, feel like you are the one experiencing everything the boy does. The author did this so you could truly understand how the boy felt.

Clear as Mud

When a new boy named Sammy Sams arrives at school, the school bully gives him a really hard time. But Sammy finds a strange, unknown beetle, and suddenly everyone at school respects him – except for the bully, of course! When the school tries to show the beetle to experts, the bully steals it. He wants to pretend he found it himself. However, the beetle bites him! The next day at school, his skin starts to turn see-through. When his whole body becomes clear, people come to stare at him. Embarrassed, he stays away from people for 10 years. To mark the tenth year of being alone, the bully decides to eat the beetle. The beetle bites him again, and he finally kills it. After this, the bully's skin goes back to normal, and he decides to return to society. But when he does, he finds out that everyone else in the world now has see-through skin!

What a Woman

There's only one girl in a school with 16 students, and the boys often tease her. They tease her because she's the only girl and also because she's not very good at sports. But when she brings her dead aunt's good-luck charm to school, something amazing happens! She suddenly becomes better at sports than all the boys.

You Be the Judge

A boy and his father live in the middle of a desert. They run a small motel and petrol station. Even though they don't get many customers, they believe more people will come. This is because of an old story about a mysterious creature that lives in the area. One night, the boy goes out into the desert. He spends several days wandering, trying to find this legendary creature.