UNCOVERED!

The author of Unmentionable! (1993) and other unforgettable! collections offers nine more stories in the same outrageous vein. A cat possessively sits on a strange pair of bird's eggs, only to become ``Picked Bones'' when they hatch; one child finds it easier to keep a single rabbit as a secret pet than the hundreds it soon becomes (``Too Many Rabbits''); another, embarrassed when her father plays practical jokes with ``pretend cat poo,'' neatly (and disgustingly) turns the tables (``A Mouthful''). Jennings displays his usual flair for riveting titles (``Pubic Hare'') and first lines (``The man next door buried his wife in the backyard''), and the humor, though frequently gross, is tempered by moments of tenderness; in ``Just Like Me,'' an awkward, unhappy child pens a love letter that finds the right recipient years later. These variations in tone, plus a brain-bending time-travel paradox (``Backward Step''), play off the array of puns, fecal jokes, and macabre plot twists; Jennings may shock adults, but his tales are guaranteed to delight less-practiced readers. (Short stories. 11- 13)