''Uncanny'' is the fourth in a series of collections of short stories by Australian author Paul Jennings. It was first released in 1988.

The stories

On the Bottom

When a boy goes fishing with his father, he finds a severed finger with a bear tattoo on it. This tattoo comes to life and directs the boy to its former owner, who is covered with tattoos; all of those tattoos then come to life and attach themselves to the boy. Was adapted as an episode

Driven Crazy ''Driven Crazy'' is an Australian children's television series, based on the short stories by author Paul Jennings. It first aired in 1998 on Network Ten, and was the second television series based on his works. Plot Driven Crazy follows the ...

and was renamed to "Barely There."

A Good Tip for Ghosts

When twin brothers move to a new school, the bully forces them to go to a haunted garbage tip at night after making them touch a pair of false teeth, or they will be beaten up until they pass the test. But in the end, the ghost who haunts the garbage tip reveals he has been looking for the false teeth. Then, the bully then becomes the victim of the test, as a ghost haunts him as a request from the brothers. Was later adapted as an episode of ''

Round The Twist ''Round the Twist'' is an Australian children's comedy drama television series which follows the supernatural adventures of the Twist family, who leave their conventional residence to live in a lighthouse, in the fictional coastal town of Port ...

''.

Frozen Stiff

An old man makes a living by collecting dead animals and freezing them in his ice factory. A man keeps a cow locked in his shed, and a boy tries to get it back to the countryside. Was originally going to be adapted as a ''Round the Twist'' episode, but was scrapped for cost reasons and concerns over

animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction of suffering or Injury, harm by humans upon animals, either by omission (neglect) or by commission. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm ...

UFD

A boy reports seeing a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

(in actuality a flying dog), but his family does not believe him. He bets his father a thousand dollars if he can prove he saw one, or three years of washing dishes if he can't.

Cracking Up

A boy gets many punishments from his angry teacher, the worst of which is having to look after the teacher's

pot plant Container gardening or pot gardening/farming is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. A container in gardening is a small, enclosed and usually portable object ...

for a night. However, the worst part is that two people died in his bedroom at his new house; the spirit of one of them tickles him, causing him to break the pot plant, then the next day at school, the spirit follows him around; as he is the only one that can see it, he gets in trouble for things that it does.

Greensleeves

A poor man makes a living by blowing up tree stumps and selling the wood chips as firewood. But when a whale washes ashore, dies, and causes problems for the town, this man is promised a lot of money if he can get rid of it.

Mousechap

A boy stays at his aunt and uncle's house. His uncle has started acting like a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

, so he is locked in the basement. His aunt explains that the uncle had previously invented a machine that acts as a mousetrap, but instead of killing the mouse, it causes it to run away. Similarly, a mouse that has been hiding in the boy's room acts like a person; the boy later finds out that if two animals touch the machine at the same time, their brains get switched. Was later adapted as an episode of Driven Crazy.

Spaghetti Pig-out

A boy is always lonely at school because the school bully never lets anyone associate with him. He is pretty much lonely at home as well because of his lack of technology. But one day, he gets a strange video player whose remote control also works on people. However, the bully eventually steals the remote. Back at school, they both enter a spaghetti-eating contest in which the winner earns a free holiday. The bully, due to eating too much spaghetti via the fast forward function on the remote, throws up and is disqualified from the contest, allowing the boy to win the holiday. Was later adapted as an episode of ''

''.

Know All

A family finds a chest of old circus outfits that cause whoever wears them to gain the abilities of their original owner. The family's

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...

also gains abilities from being dressed in one of the outfits, however the original owner of this outfit was not a very nice person. Was later adapted as an episode of ''

''.

External links

The book on Paul Jennings' site
{{Paul Jennings Australian short story collections 1988 short story collections Books by Paul Jennings (Australian author) Australian children's books 1988 children's books Puffin Books books