Ricky Gervais Flanimals

[Hazel]

There's quite a few of these books now; Flanimals, More Flanimals and Flanimals Under The Sea, and basically all they contain is ludicrous, nonsense animals from the (warped) imagination of Ricky Gervais, with equally nonsense names. On first appraisal they are mildly amusing and the kids laugh at them, but I quickly found that after the first read, the boys didn't ever revisit the books and they collected dust on the shelves. The lack of actual story doesn't help at all and while I have 'read' past More Flanimals, I don't know if that has changed. Maybe someone can shed some light?

It annoys me that Gervais uses his reputation to sell a frankly dull childrens' book.

[Flingo]

I was at our evaluation panel when the first one was published, and we didn't buy it for the children's libraries. Interestingly it was bought by our colleagues for the "adult" library, where it (and its sequels) can be found in the "Humour" section, alongside books like Book of Bunny Suicides. The names of the flanimals really are adult humour, although I can see why they appeal to children. It's not for me, and like Hazel, I get annoyed by this whole celebrities writing books just because of who they are.

[Hazel]

I saw a show late one night this week that was talking about celebrities turning themselves into childrens' authors. The main complaint was that it was easy to write a childrens' book, only needing about 15-20 words, and then said celebrity gets to call themself 'an author'. Plus, more bucks for their already bulging bank accounts.

 

While I agree in principle that it is annoying, I don't agree about it being easy to write childrens' books. Their brevity means that every word matters. And children are far more discerning that we give them credit for.

[Flingo]

I saw a show late one night this week that was talking about celebrities turning themselves into childrens' authors. The main complaint was that it was easy to write a childrens' book, only needing about 15-20 words, and then said celebrity gets to call themself 'an author'. Plus, more bucks for their already bulging bank accounts.

 

While I agree in principle that it is annoying, I don't agree about it being easy to write childrens' books. Their brevity means that every word matters. And children are far more discerning that we give them credit for.

At the risk of going off topic here, I agree entirely with you, Hazel. Look at all the recent attempts by various "celebs" to publish children's books - with the exception of Flanimals and Katie Price's ponies, all have sunk without trace.

 

There is an equally frustrating trend at the moment of established adult writers breaking into the children's market - I am soon going to start threads on 2 I've read recently, one by Jack Higgins and one by James Patterson.