Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Bright and amusing . |
| Disadvantages: |
"Loads of Flanimals were hurt during the making of this book" |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
"There are a few things you need to know about Flanimals. And when you do, I'd keep them to yourself if I were you." So begins the weird and wonderful made-up world of Flanimals.
I dipped into this bizarre hardbacked book when my husband received it as a Christmas present. It's a really easy to flick through book full of imaginary creatures called 'Flanimals', thought up from the mind of Ricky Gervais. The illustrations are by Rob Steen and are bright, bold and very comical. The pictures leap from the page to tickle your fancy, with their extreme body parts and bright colours. These are exactly they type of monsters I used to imagine in my head as a child of about eight or nine, so I would think that is a great age group to buy the book for. The 'observations' underneath the pictures are generally nonsense, written in the style of a nature spotter's guide. These are very funny because they can appeal to different ages at different levels. For example: "Munge Fuddler" (Flange Snatchling). Despite being too mungey for it's own good, it persists in fuddling everything it sees. Everything gets battered when it fuddles the wrong thing." I had to make sure I typed "Munge Fuddler" very carefully!
Ricky Gervais' website says this about the book: "Flanimals were first sighted by Ricky Gervais a long time ago. He drew some rough sketches and made notes about their behaviour. Then, Ricky asked his friend Rob Steen to draw them properly, exactly as they appear in their natural habitat. The result is now two beautiful, informative and compendious volumes which are sure to delight, disgust and distress all who read them."
This review is about "Flanimals". "More Flanimals" is the next book.
The Author
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Ricky Gervais is best known for his stand-up comedy and especially for his writing, directing and starring in his TV comedy, "The Office" , and "Extras". I would say that you don't need to particularly be a fan of his to enjoy the book. It stands alone as an amusing work.
The illustrator
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Rob Steen. You can see some more of his work through a link from the Flanimals section of Gervais' website. I have been unable to find out too much about him, which is a pity as the illustrations are brilliant. You can view some of Gervais' preliminary illustrations and see how they were brought to life by Steen. (see pics below)
The Content
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♣ Chapter One..... Spotter's guide
Each page has a colour monster with the 'observations' in black bold type underneath. There are 26 Flanimals. I have included a few photos at the bottom, but I'm not going to reveal all because it would obviously spoil any prospective buyer's enjoyment of the book. You've found out what the Munge Fuddler is, but you'll have to imagine what this one looks like until you see the book!
There are Flanimals such as the Gum Spudlet, the Sprot Guzzler, and also the Offledermis which was "born completely inside out.".... Find out why in the book! You may also be interested in the reason the Plamglotis swallows its own hands. The expressions on the Flanimals faces say a lot!
♣ Chapter Two..... Flanimal behaviour
Now you know your Flanimals, it's time to find out about their habits. There are many animated humorous pictures with the very funny explanations to go with them here. For example, the Newborn Plamglotis is a sorry sight. "Everyone finds newborn babies messy, disgusting little creatures, apart from the mother that is. This is not the case with a newborn Plamglotis - its mother finds it disgusting too." I'm not going to spoil any more, but I will say you've got to see the Baby Munty Flumple.
Chapter two is clever because the different Flanimals are linked to each other in their behaviour and how they relate to each other. I have found myself flicking back to chapter one to remind myself about them. There are some great action pictures of the Flanimals interacting with each other.
♣ Chapter Three..... Flaminal testing
This is where your newly learned Flanimal knowledge is tested. A fun quiz, including Flanimal footprints, and questions such as "If a Puddloflaj's eyes pop out, why can't it pick them up?" and "Which Flanimal's babies make the best water bombs?" If you are anywhere near interested then it's all in the book!
The Flanimal scale chart at the end has a human sillhouette up against the Flanimals, and surprisingly, they are quite large creatures! I for one am glad that a Mernimbler doesn't really exist!
♣ Other Flanimals
To finish, Mr Gervais very cleverly leads you to the next book by telling us he'd love to inform us about some of the other Flanimals, but the book ends here. ("More Flanimals" also does this!).
The Price
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Published by Faber and Faber Ltd. The inside cover states the UK RRP is £9.99. There is a link from Ricky's website to Amazon where they sell it for £5.99. You may be able to hunt around the cheaper book shops and find it for less.
There is also an audio CD read by Ricky, a limited edition set of collectibles and a range of t-shirts. I don't know where the t-shirts are available from.
If you want to know more, then Ricky's website is www.rickygervais.com
The Verdict
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Now then, the age range for the appeal of this book I'd say is very wide. As I mentioned, my thirty-something year old husband got given this book as a present from my sister. As it happens, he was also given "More Flanimals" by his Dad! Our family must have homed in on his, should I say, childish, sense of humour! I can imagine it's a great stocking filler for a child of about seven upwards, although, my children aged two and three have been pouring over them today. They have been absolutely fascinated by the outrageous pictures. There are nice wobbly tongues, teeth and big eye-balls to catch their attention. Quite a good change from teletubbies or Fimbles which are just as 'made-up'. In fact, the Flanimals remind me of the creatures from the old "Trapdoor" series of plasticine animations, if you've ever seen those. The humour is also quite similar in an offbeat, tongue in cheek kind of way.
I suppose I'd better add at this juncture,that not everyone will find it suitable for little children because of the violence in the book! You may not want your child to know what happens when a Mernimbler meets a Flemping Bunt-himmler!
It's an easy book to dip in and out of for a few quick laughs. As a present I would say it was good value if you buy it at the lower price. It's not a book that you will always want to be reading, and I don't think you'll need to refer to the habits of a Clunge Ambler very often, unless you do happen to see one in your garden! I think an older child would love to have this in his or her collection.
I like this for a bit of fun.
Joanna.
| More Reviews |
 the strange, the pointless, and the ugly
Review of Flanimals - Ricky Gervais by
Punkychik
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Flanimals is a book of not-quite-real animals, which has been created and compiled by Ricky Gervais. Flanimals is the first in a currently expanding series and features characters originally designed to entertain a younger relative. Ricky invites us into his wild and creative imagination which can only be said to appeal to people of all ages. The book is unlike anything Gervais has done before, so don't be put off if you're not a fan of Gervais' ...
...and lifestyle. All of the Flanimals have a very pointless lifestyle, with Gervais making them sound even more pointless and ridiculous than they already would. Each description encapsulates Gervais' humour with open-ended question and insults. Its amazing the amount of humour he can fit into a few lines of text. Whilst the common names of the Flanimals are hilarious, its worth the time to read the Latin names which are more outrageous, and appear ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
14.04.2007
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The ridiculous world of Gervais and Steen
Review of Flanimals - Ricky Gervais by
ally2kc
Advantages: Hilarious and imaginative with an intelligent twist
Disadvantages: A bit gruesome foryounger kids
...own imaginary ecosystem. Flanimals is a guide, much like a bird watching guide and provides all the necessary background information on each of these fabulously imaginative creatures along with some useful tips on approaching them (or more specifically how not to approach them!)
The book is split into 3 chapters - "Spotter's Guide", "Flanimal Behaviour" and "Flanimal Testing. Spotters Guide is a port of Flanimals encyclopedia which gives you an ...
...the behaviour of the individual Flanimals as well as their interaction with each other. For example, - 'The Glonk - Does Absolutely Nothing and Dies'".
Flanimal Testing is a quiz to guage what readers have learnt from the book. This involves tests such as identifying the flanimal that matches a footprint and matching individual behaviour to the Flanimal in question. There is also a helpful size chart included which allows you to visualize the size ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
23.01.2007
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 "A Few Things You Need To Know About Flanimals"
Review of Flanimals - Ricky Gervais by
BlueMidget
Advantages: Entertaining, appeal for all ages
Disadvantages: More Flanimals would have be appreciated
...a note that 'Loads of Flanimals were hurt during the making of this book.', whilst the back has a photo of the author and a brief biography of him
The book is divided into three chapters: 'Spotter's Guide', 'Flanimal Behaviour' and 'Flanimal Testing'.
The first chapter has a page devoted to each Flanimal featured in the book, giving you some information and an illustration about the creature.
The second chapter shows the Flanimals as they would ...
...various questions about Flanimals to 'test' your knowledge.
There is also a 'Flanimal Scale Chart', which shows the sizes of all the Flanimals compared to a human. I think this is a nice touch, with silhouettes of the Flanimals to show their relative sides.
Throughout the book, I thought the combination of artwork and writing is entertaining and often hilarious. With names such as 'Sprine Bloat-Trunker' and 'Munty Flumple' and, my personal favourite, ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
23.09.2006
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As Useful As A Glonk
Review of Flanimals - Ricky Gervais by
Liam_lfo
Advantages: Hilarious randomness
Disadvantages: Too short
...the distinguished Gervais comedy house, Flanimals is a random collection of made-up creatures, whose whole purpose in life is to be as absolutely pointless as possible.
Although "written" as a children's book, adults can enjoy this just as much (a similar situation to the Simpsons) simply through the bizarre pictures and descriptions of Flanimals included.
For example, take the Wobboid Mump (Lumpus-Chuck-Goggler), which is: "One of the most useless ...
...it was born on.
Flanimals has three different sections:
1) The Spotter's Guide - shows the 26 Flanimals (one to a page) with a picture and a little paragraph on each of them.
2) Flanimal Behaviour - drawings of Flanimals doing what they do best - generally attacking or eating each other, like the Clunge Ambler being attacked by a gang of Sprogs. ("No reason for this - they're just vicious" is the helpful note attached to this page.)
3) Flanimal ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful |
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helpful
28.10.2005
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Recommended for those aged 2 - 102 !
Review of Flanimals - Ricky Gervais by
eslffkjp123
Advantages: A fantastically bizarre book for kids and adults alike = a rare find!
Disadvantages: Too short
...and possibly rude activites, that flanimals such as the 'Munge Fuddler' (once you see the picture all will become clear) may be getting up to !
This book is a definitely a must have for all households, as it is one of those rare books which appeals to anybody of any age, so please don't be put off by what may look like a childish exterior. Also, if the TV series 'The Office' (the most famous creation of Ricky Gervais - the author) was not to your ...
...are not familiar with the flanimals craze, they are basically fictional animals excavated from the depths of Ricky Gervais's avid, and very bizarre, imagination. Every flanimal has a funny colour picture and a hilarious description, each trying to outdo each other for pointlessness . If random humour is your bag, look no further!
So to conclude, this is a fantastic book for feeding even the wildest of imaginations, and even a very young child would ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful |
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somewhat helpful
06.05.2006
(09.05.2006)
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This product has not yet been reviewed. 
08.07.2008
