Interview with Paul Jennings

Paul, after all these years of writing books for kids, why have you written a full length novel at this point of your career?

I have written ten collections of short stories and twelve short junior illustrated novels. I just suddenly felt that over one hundred short stories were enough for people to choose from. Also, I was nervous, no make that scared, of doing a novel which would take over a year to write. I think it is good to do things which are a little scary because it means you are not falling into a rut but moving forward into new challenges. I started with just a few chapters and had no idea where the story was going. It took hold of me in a way that nothing has before.

This book is said to be autobiographical . . . Did you really find a grave and remove the skull as part of a dare?

Yes and No. My sister Ruth (not Kate ) and I did discover a vandalised grave in the sand dunes and there was a skull next to the lead coffin. At that very moment a group of scary faces peered at us and laughed. We ran for it but I did not steal the skull.

It sounds like you found things difficult when you emigrated here from the UK – is that true? Were things very different? And was it hard to make new friends?

It was very difficult. I think that people who leave their homes and move to a new land are incredibly brave. I did have an English accent and I was teased for it. I could not play football and I was the only English boy in the school. But compared to refugees who come to Australia on leaking boats risking their lives from sinking, pirates and crocodiles my experience was not bad at all. Imagine not being able to speak the language. Imagine being locked up behind barbed wire. Leaving one's loved ones behind (I even missed my cat not to mention my Granny) is a huge loss.

How different do you see things for kids today? Do they still have the same issues and suffer the same embarrassing moments?

Nothing has changed and everything has changed.

There was no television. There were no computers. There were more than fifty kids in each class. Teachers gave children the strap at school. Hardly anyone had a car and mothers didn't work or drive. Kids in primary school did not wear long pants until they were twelve. One's first appearance at school in long pants was met by cheers and jeers. Everyone walked to school – a parent would never drive a child to school – cars were for important occasions.

But many things were the same. The first day at a new school was horrible then as now. Shadows in the dark were just as scary. Brussels sprouts tasted just as bad. Homework had to be done. Jobs (not chores) were part of home life and someone had to put the dustbin out. Pocket money could be confiscated. Pimples were embarrassing but zits were unheard of. The way we felt was no different to the way kids today feel. That's why people my age can still write stories about childhood.

Has anyone dared you to do anything in the last 20 years? And if they did, did you do the dare?

I was dared to play a few small roles in the TV series Round the Twist. I played a ghost in the episode 'Without My Pants'. I was a terrible actor and they cut most of my bit out. The director kept saying, 'Smile, Paul. Smile.' But I couldn't. I was too scared.

If you had the chance to dare someone to do something - who would you dare and what would you dare them to do?

No, I haven't dared anyone to do something. I encourage people to take a chance. You have to take a few risks in life – not dangerous things. I talk about things that take strength of character like doing a difficult job or doing the right thing even though it might make you unpopular. It would sometimes be braver to say no to a dare than to do it.