Tongue-Tied (short story collection)

Tongue-Tied is the tenth in a series of collections of short stories by Australian author Paul Jennings.

A boy moves from Melbourne to the Queensland rainforest to live with his father (because his mother, who had divorced, has died).

While sick in bed, a boy is asked to play a game of Spot the Dog by his mother, whose pictures of landmarks in their home town are very detailed, but lack people.

While looking over the picture, the boy seems to end up sucked into the game, and can't figure out how to get out of this strange world.

As punishment for allowing his mouse to breed, a boy has his head-lopper confiscated, which upsets him because he was planning to use it in an upcoming act.