History Creator / PaulJennings

* AmbiguousGender: Star, the horse in ''Spaghetti Pig-Out''.
** And, in earlier prints, Beethoven, the budgie in ''Only Gilt'', and Ohda, the dog in ''Smelly Feat''.
* AnyoneCanDie: Don't ever presume an individaul is safe from death just because of traits like their age or species; he'll happily kill off kids and pets.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: His favourite Aesop is you should always consider if you really, ''really' want what you think you want.

** The narrator of "Smart Ice Cream" is a very smart but horrible boy who bullies his classmates for their appearance, has contempt for those who are less smart, and can't abide anyone else getting marks as good as his on school tests. When those on the receiving end of his bullying are helped by a kind ice-cream seller who gives them magical transformative ice-cream which makes their problems fade away, the narrator ransacks and vandalizes the ice-cream van, discovers the titular "smart ice-cream for smart alecs", and greedily eats it. It causes him to lose all of his intelligence, putting him far behind the classmates he previously looked down on.

* KarmicTransformation: The seemingly fearless BigBrotherBully narrator of "Inside Out" is scornful toward and inconsiderate of his easily-scared sister. Wandering into an abandoned house at night, he is compelled to be the subject of a ghost's spooking exam, which the ghost passes by magically turning various objects inside out and then almost doing the same to the narrator, causing him to faint. [[spoiler:He escapes physically unharmed but has lost his fearlessness and [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis become even more timid than his sister]]; he now jumps at every sound and describes the Muppet movie she is watching as "really creepy".]]

* WidgetSeries: His stories can more or less be considered weird Australian things.

* CloningBlues: ''The Copy''.
** AmbiguousCloneEnding: Played With - The Copy has the same memories as the main character, and becomes convinced that he is the original, and that "The Copy" is trying to live ''his'' life. It soon turns out the story from after the boy uses the copy machine and passes out is told [[UnreliableNarrator using the clone's memories]] instead of the original's, and the original boy is ''dead''.
** ExpendableClone

--> "You know I can't stop saying 'without a shirt' without a shirt."

* GreatAccomplishmentWeakCredibility: The narrator of ''Smart Ice Cream'' is a ChildProdigy and an InsufferableGenius who is usually the only one in his class to get full marks in math. So when his classmate Dadien also gets full marks, the protagonist, who believes all his classmates are dumb, thinks Dadien must have cheated.

* VerbalTic: ''Without a Shirt'' is about a boy who can't help adding the titular phrase to everything he says.

* PranksterParent: In the short story "A Mouthful", the protagonist's father loves to play pranks on his daughter and her friends. He's put too much pepper on their dinner, short-sheeted the beds, etc, but his favourite prank was to put fake cat poop on the table and pretend to eat it. The girl then [[IAteWhat tricks him into eating real cat food]].

* TongueOnTheFlagpole: The story ''Ice Maiden'' features a boy kissing an ice sculpture and getting stuck.

Co-authored two series with Creator/MorrisGleitzman: ''[[Literature/WickedPaulJennings Wicked!]]'' and ''[[Literature/{{Deadly}} Deadly!]]''.

* VerbalTic: ''Without a Shirt'' is about a boy who can't help adding the titular phrase to everything he says without a shirt.

* KarmicTransformation: The seemingly fearless BigBrotherBully narrator of "Inside Out" is scornful toward and inconsiderate of his easily-scared sister. Wandering into an abandoned house at night, he is compelled to be the subject of a ghost's spooking exam, which the ghost passes by magically turning various objects inside out and then almost doing the same to the narrator who then falls into a faint. [[spoiler:Although he escapes physically unharmed, [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis his fearlessness has been inverted into extreme fearfulness]] surpassing that of his sister; he now jumps at every sound and describes the Muppet movie she is watching as "really creepy".]]

* KarmicTransformation: The seemingly fearless BigBrotherBully narrator of "Inside Out" is scornful toward and inconsiderate of his easily-scared sister. Wandering into an abandoned house at night, he is compelled to be the subject of a ghost's spooking exam, which the ghost passes by magically turning various objects inside out and then almost doing the same to the narrator who then falls into a faint. [[spoiler:Although he escapes physically unharmed, his fearlessness has been inverted into extreme fearfulness surpassing that of his sister; he now jumps at every sound and describes the Muppet movie she is watching as "really creepy".]]

Co-authored two series with Creator/MorrisGleitzman: ''[[Literature/WickedPaulJennings Wicked!]]'' and ''Deadly!''.

%%* AnyoneCanDie
%%* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: His favourite Aesop.

* BodyHorror: The main characters of ''Burp'' and ''Nails'', amongst others. ''Clear As Mud'' uses it twice.

%%* DownerEnding: Quite a lot.

%%* {{Mooning}}: The subject of ''Moonies''.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In ''Nails'', mermen and mermaids can crossbreed with humans, with said offspring looking human until puberty, when they will start to grow what look like extra fingernails (really fish scales) up their fingers and eventually over various parts of their body shortly before their legs fuse together to become the iconic tails.
%%* PickyPeopleEater: The Slobberers from the series ''Wicked!''

* ToothyBird: ''Picked Bones'' has two birds with teeth given to a child, with a warning to keep them away from his cat. He assumes it's because the cat will harm the birds. It turns out that this is not the case.

* YouCantFightFate: Looking into the eye of a Seeshell lets you see the future, and everything you see ''will'' happen- however, you can also manipulate SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* VerbalTic: ''Without a Shirt'' is about a boy who can't help adding the titular phrase to everything he says.