Deadly! Books in Order

The Deadly! series is another high‑energy collaboration between Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings. Six short novels — Nude, Brats, Stiff, Hunt, Grope and Pluck — tell one continuous story about sinister anti‑ageing tea, runaway kids and a very determined toddler.

Amy, twelve, is doing her best to look after her mum in a coastal Australian town. That job becomes a lot harder when Mum drinks a special tea and suddenly turns into a two‑year‑old. At the same time, a boy called Sprocket arrives in town with nothing but a backpack and a faded photo of a woman he’s been searching for his whole life.

Their paths collide when Sprocket discovers that Amy’s toddler mother looks suspiciously like the woman in his photo. Together they uncover the Turner brats, a creepy family who have discovered a blue plant that can keep people permanently young. Seeds from the plant have escaped into rivers and creeks, and every new sprout increases the danger.

Across the six books Amy and Sprocket race from town to town, trying to care for ‘Toddler Mum’ while staying ahead of the Turners and assorted henchmen. They bluff their way through motels, hospitals and laboratories, facing floods, kidnappings and a trail of mutating plants. Humour and slapstick sit alongside genuine fear as the kids realise the tea doesn’t just affect one family — if the secret gets out, powerful people around the world will want it.

Underneath the chases and cliff‑hangers, the series looks at what it means to be responsible for adults who can’t or won’t look after themselves, and at the temptation to chase eternal youth at any cost. Amy and Sprocket grow from wary allies into something like family, tested again and again.

This page lists the Deadly! books in order and explains how each title fits into the bigger story, so you can follow the plot from the first sip of blue tea to the final showdown with the Turners.