UNREAL! Eight Surprising Stories
By
Australia's answer to Robert Munsch and Barry Polisar offers a collection of wacky tales, each featuring a ghost, a skeleton, or at least a twist of magic. In ""Without a Shirt,"" Brian's dog keeps fetching human bones that try to rearrange themselves; the ""Skeleton on the Dunny"" haunts an outhouse; young Anton saves his beloved lighthouse with the help of musical ghosts playing ""Lighthouse Blues."" In ""The Strap Box Flyer,"" a huckster sells wonderful glue that works on anything--for just four hours; Greg's composter dad kills a plague of flies with his aromatic ""Cow Dung Custard."" David has super powers when he wears his pink ""Wunderpants""; and, thanks to his new ""Lucky Lips,"" every female Marcus meets must kiss him-fine, until he falls into the pigpen. A shadowy, macabre jacket illustration makes an effective visual hook for a collection with broad humor and twisted plotlines that will especially appeal to readers without the patience for mood pieces or complex character development. A companion volume, Uncanny, is being published simultaneously.