A brilliantly, funny read filled with great illustrations about a wide range of strange animals. A great book to grab the attention of those tricky, reluctant readers.

A delightful and educational read filled with quirky facts and colorful illustrations about some of the most absurd creatures in the animal kingdom. I think kids would thoroughly enjoy exploring the fascinating world of these unique animals.

I really enjoyed and loved reading this children's book with my daughter. We both had a great time reading about all the interesting and funny animals.

The illustrations in the book are amazing, and each animal had a lot of space on each page to show its characteristics. The text was easy to read, and fun too. There was a lot of interesting facts and information in the book, so it was very educational. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

This was a very cute title. I loved the illustrations and how informative it is. I learned a lot about weird animals with this book and I think it would be perfect for curious budding naturalists.

At the very first page, I was shocked. Is this for real? So I looked up "Sea Sheep" on Google, and found it. I should look further, since the book got "babirusa" , "Indian peafowl" (peacock and peahen), and even "fennec fox". But the series amuse me so much that I kept requesting for their new book each time I saw one on NetGalley. The author is playful, naming the animals as he saw fit (and it usually made me laugh), but written the description correctly. Of course, this book is a fun way to learn about animals we usually not paying attention of (and there are so many), and the colorful pages add more fun in it.

5★
“The World’s Most Ridiculous (*Marvelous) Animals… (*or are they?)”

That’s the actual title of this absolutely delightful and mind-boggling book, ostensibly for children, but my goodness it was interesting for this adult reader. First, the table of contents. I have included the handwritten captions of the illustrations.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Not a fish… Sonic, but not a hedgehog… Fancy pants… Playing possum… Snappy dresser”

The first page explains how animals have evolved and been shaped by their environment. The illustration is a row of Gerenuk, a kind of antelope, beginning with one of average size and ending with one with long legs and a long neck. This is part of the note under the six stages of change, which I include to show how humour and fact are mixed.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Adaptations can include physical characteristics like extraordinary feathers… ”

Later in the book we meet the Gerenuk as they are today.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Litocranius walleri Lankelope necktacularis. In Somali, ‘gerenuk’ means ‘giraffe-necked’. I can’t imagine why they have this name.”

The little ‘handwritten’ notes beside the artwork are a mix of fun and facts. At the bottom is a more comprehensive paragraph of about a hundred words, describing the animal and its habitat.

He then takes us around the world, sharing the most wonderful creatures. What’s not to love about these crabs, (except being pinched of course).

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Decorator crab majoidea incognito pincheus These creative crustaceans come equipped with a velcro-like texture on their shell, which comes in very handy when you have a taste for dressing up.”

If you can’t read the words in the illustration, I’ll share a bit of the wit (that may make you groan – but smile.)
“Keep your kelp close and your anemones closer… Absolutely crabulous… Decorator crabs don’t like to share their ornaments. They are a little shellfish... Snappy Dresser... High fashion in the low seas.”

There are so many pages of wonderful animals, and all jokes aside, the information is good, and I’m glad that the proper name of each animal is included so kids can follow up one that interests them.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of the In Closing page.
In closing, he comments that animals have adapted in order to survive in their environments and we hairy humans should learn from them. We’re all living here together. I think it will help kids appreciate the variety of animals everywhere, and I’d like to think it might make them think about looking after them and their environment.

He does not mention disappearing habitat or those animals who are extinct or going extinct. It’s not that kind of book, but it’s hard for me to read it now without being aware that today’s animals probably aren’t going to be able to “adapt” fast enough.

Still, it’s a delightful book to browse through – the kind of thing you want to say to someone in the room “Hey, did you know about this? Have you ever seen one of these?” Thanks to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s book for the preview copy from which I’ve shared illustrations.

'The World's Most Ridiculous Animals,' by Philip Bunting is a fantastic collection of fantastical animals! Its punny, entertaining, and educational!

This is a book my daughter was "reading" every day. She was delighted to see the pictures and hear me saying about the uncommon animals and their features. It is so inspiring and motivate us, parents, to help kids to discover more, to keep them curious about the nature, animals, diversity.

So cute and informative too, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access it in exchange for my feedback.

Wow! This is such a fun and fact-filled little read. The illustrations are so cute and the content is super informative and interesting. Despite it being a children’s book, I found that I learnt a lot.

A fun book introducing some of the more unusual animals found on Earth. Each page features a different animal - some familiar, some less so with a cartoon illustration, labels (some of which are factual, others more ridiculous to match the title of the book) and some surprising facts about the animal. The page also includes the Latin name, but crossed out with a more descriptive label. This book would be great for any young animal lover looking to learn about more unusual animals.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I love these unique animal books geared toward kids. This title concerns the most ridiculous animals, including decorator crabs and the Gobi jerboa.

Eu amo os livros dessa editora porque são lindos e informativos. Quando acho que já aprendi tudo, me surpreendo com curiosidades e histórias que auxiliam o nosso crescimento.

Hilarious! I loved reading this book for myself and reading it to my child. Such a fun way to learn about such amazing but ridiculous animals, The World's Most Ridiculous Animals is filled with such a diverse group of animals, some you might recognize but the ones you don't will send you straight to the Internet to look at actual photos of them, another thing the illustrations are so great. Philip Bunting is so clever and makes this book a fun exploring experience for little ones.

I really like this non-fiction book about strange and unusual animals. It's really accessible with great illustrations, fun facts and further information.
A book that will be loved by children and a great addition to the classroom.

Here's a fun and funny look at some of nature's stranger creatures.

There's a wacky painting of each critter, and silly comments. (Did you know the common wombat produces cubic poop? I did not.) Plus, a paragraph of factual information about the animal.

This is an enjoyable read that I'm betting young to middle-grade readers will adore.

I only wish the illustrations had been a little more realistic, as I spent a lot of time Googling to see what beastie really looked like.

I have seen similar books as this but hadn't picked one up until now. They are filled with adorable (but still accurate) drawings of ridiculous animals and each one has interesting facts. Not only is it educational, it actually had me cracking up at some of the snippets labeled around the animal. Some facts are cool! And some are gross! Regardless, I think many kids would find this book entertaining, interesting, and informative!

This witty, quirky, colorfully illustrated book features some of the most absurd and flamboyant animals on the planet!

The second title in the series from the hilarious Philip Bunting is filled with facts about some of the weirdest creatures in the natural world.

The antagonist voice (speaking though cheeky annotations) points out the apparent ridiculousness of each creature's features, while the narrator's voice describe the evolutionary reasons or advantages for each animal's extraordinary characteristics.

With hilarious text throughout and bright, contemporary illustrations, this guide to ridiculous animals contains funny labelled diagrams and will help teach kids about evolution by studying some of its most wild products!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books for an Advanced Review Copy.

An amazing collection of unique animals and their special adaptations! Sure to peak the interest of any animal-loving or curious kid, this book will entertain for hours. Great for the classroom or home!

What a wonderful book exploring animals of all kinds by Bunting! Scaled, feathered, furred, and hairless - you can find them all inside these brightly illustrated pages. There is a great selection of animals, and I personally appreciated the babirusa representation. Not only were the animals themselves interesting, but I thought the commentary was great to involve kids and draw them into learning in a fun way. The adaptation of scientific names is really funny and there are many great puns. Some jokes are geared towards an older generation, such as a Phil Collins reference with the Palm Cockatoo that even I don't quite get. However, the comedy is overall aimed just right for the whole family to enjoy reading together.

The drawings were fantastic, with just enough detail and just enough cuteness. Some species were drawn with aesthetically pleasing eyes, even when they are actually eyeless, but even that is called out in the book itself in a funny way. I also love the closing section of the book, I think it helps kids connect to animals by comparing us all and how we all just want to survive and thrive.

I highly recommend this book and plan on looking up the entire series. I definitely plan on sharing this cute book with my own animal-loving daughter. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.