Paul Jennings' Spookiest Stories

by Paul Jennings

Since Unreal was published in 1985, Paul Jennings has written over 100 stories and sold over 7.5 million copies of his books. To celebrate 20 years of stories by Paul Jennings, Penguin has put together collections of his work. Hand-picked by Paul, each book contains 20 - 25 stories from the UnCollected series, Tongue-tied and the Super Diaries. Paul Jennings' Funniest Stories has already appealed to audiences, having sold over 40000 copies to date, Paul Jennings' Weirdest Stories has also been snapped up by readers, and Paul's Spookiest looks set to follow!

Genres: Short Stories, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Young Adult, Horror

321 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Paul Jennings was born in Heston near London, and at the age of 6 emigrated to Melbourne, Australia on a boat. He was on the boat for 5 weeks with his family. He attended Bentleigh West Primary School and Caulfield Grammar School.

After graduating from school, he went to Frankston Teachers College (now part of Monash University) and became a teacher. He taught students at Frankston State School, Kangaroo Flat State School, the Turana Youth Training Centre, and the Royal Children's Hospital State School in Mount Eliza. He later went on to study at the Lincoln Institute of Health Science (now part of LaTrobe University) and became a speech pathologist, then worked as a Lecturer in Special Education at Burwood State College (now part of Deakin University). In 1979 he became Senior Lecturer in Language and Literature at Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education (now part of Deakin University).

In 1985, Jennings' first book of short stories, Unreal! was published, during which he worked as a lecturer and wrote part-time; in 1989, he made the decision to devote his full time to writing. Many of his short stories, published between 1985 and 1991, were also adapted into the first and second series of the popular Australian television show Round the Twist.

Winner of the Dromkeen Medal (2000).

Reviews

[Nguyên Trang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tuyển tập các truyện ma khiến người đọc thấy bớt sợ ma ;)) Tôi là chúa nhát gan nhưng lại rất thích các sự ma quái =))) Anw, hiếm khi đọc hay xem phim về ma vì ma thì ít mà sự tàn ác của con người là nhiều. Thế nên là thích cái truyện này lắm vì nó ma quái nhưng mà rất là dịu dàng, đáng yêu =)))
Ngoài ra, kiểu tuyển tập thường gây nhàm chán, như đọc vài truyện của Ray Brandbury 1 lúc là chán lắm nhưng cái ông Paul Jennings này viết không bị lặp nhau tí nào. Truyện vừa nhân văn lại hài hước hấp dẫn không nói chuyện triết lý không cố làm cho xúc động nhưng đọc xong cưng ghê lắm =)) Túm lại giải trí lúc nửa đêm rất hợp lý nha =)))

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This collection contains twenty stories, selected from the spookiest in different Jennings's previous collections. As I had read and reviewed thirteen of these before, I'll comment here the other seven. The best, in my opinion, are the following two:

"Batty," about a lost boy, and about a "greenie" and his daughter who intend to save a pack of bats. And "Seashell," about a clam that predicts the future. This story has an unexpected ending.

ESPAÑOL: Esta colección contiene veinte cuentos, seleccionados entre los más espeluznantes de las colecciones anteriores de Jennings. Como ya había leído y comentado trece de ellos, hablaré aquí sobre los otros siete. En mi opinión, los mejores son estos dos:

"Batty", sobre un niño perdido, y sobre un ecologista y su hija, que intentan salvar una manada de murciélagos. Y "Seashell" ("Concha Marina"), sobre una especie de almeja que predice el futuro. Este cuento tiene un final inesperado.

[Aikae Laumape · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spookiest stories by Paul Jennings is a collection of short stories intended to entertain the audience.The reason I chose to read this book is because it was the only book I saw in my families collection of books that was associated with "THREE short stories from one anthology" (That category on the bingo board that had eluded me all this time).My favourite character from this book is Brian Bell as I believe he is the protagonist of the book as a whole, always getting himself into countless situations that time and time again torment him. Brian is tormented by not only his surroundings but also the numerous creatures that surround him at times.Personally I didn't really take any thing away from a book but I discovered that every body has that inner child in them whether it's buried deep with-in them or out loud and proud Paul Jennings made me laugh at a book aimed at kids of the younger generation and if that's not a good author I don't know any good authors. The three stories that really stood out to me were Without a Shirt, Skeleton on the Dunny and The naked Ghost as they were all so different but all found a way to thoroughly entertain me!There weren't many quotes that stood out for me as they were all very brief short stories .

I would recommend this book to anyone for any body under the age of 15 as people of the older generation don't like to re-discover their childish ways were as "my people" couldn't care less , Overall it is a good book , give it a chance!Cheers (:

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories are fun-horror not shock-horror. Each story is full of highly imaginative twists, polished writing, and pulsating plot-lines. Paul Jennings always injects a beautiful pulse of humanity through his stories -you want to champion the hero, commiserate with their problems, and celebrate their triumphs. His characters and stories are highly relatable for kids and teens. I was recommended the book by a Year 7 student, and wasn’t looking forward to it as I won’t read horror (too scary!), but it was a delight to enter the world of Paul Jenning’s incredible imagination.

[Jwatling19 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is good for all ages and is easy to read and has more than one storie to enjoy

[Jack Pringle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because it fills in the 'my own choice' box on the bingo board and because its full of "scary" short stories.

My favourite quote from this book is: "I didn't know where to start looking, but the leg did. It hopped across the beach and stood still where it wanted us to dig." I like this quote as it portrays the weirdness of the short stories thought up by the funny author Paul Jennings.

My favourite character from this book is Brian Bell as he seems to be the main character in the book and always gets himself into spooky situations where he is humorously tormented by the strange creatures in the stories.

I learnt from this book that.... Nothing... I guess i learnt that even though I am 15, I can still enjoy this book of weird short stories.

I would recommend this book to anyone from 8-14. I give is 3/5 stars. It is slightly too childish for me.

[Alisha Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Spookiest Stories
Series: -
Author: Paul Jennings
Genre: Children's
Rating: 3 stars

Great read. I wasn't spooked but maybe I was a little too old to be reading these at the time. But it's Paul Jennings! Of course it's going to be good!

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really cool book!

[Emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his books so much.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

so funny

[Ahmed Eid]

i want to read this book
pleese

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So spooky!

[Tahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the twists in the stories. Some were really good, others weren't so much.

[Tamanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best whoooooooooooooo

[Chris]

i havent watched it

[Yashna · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice book liked the concept

[kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

wt

[Bronnagh Norris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen King WISHES

[Katie Mclachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome

[Colette Moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Jennings and spooky stories.. A match made in writing heaven.