100 Facts About Pandas by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern
| 100 Facts About Pandas by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern | |
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| Category: Humour | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: 100 silly facts about pandas to amuse and enchant. It ticks all the right boxes, but there weren't enough belly laughs for me. Worth considering for a stocking filler nonetheless. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 208 | Date: October 2009 |
| Publisher: Square Peg | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0224086325 | |
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Sometimes the title says it all - this is a book with 100 facts about pandas. Sometimes you need to note the author too - David O'Doherty won an Edinburgh Comedy Award, so this is a book of a 100 silly and untrue facts about pandas.
All pandas are born female. They will only turn male if they get a fright within their first 48 hours of life. It is for this reason that zoos with a high female bear population often employ a panda spooker to surprise newborn girls into manhood.
Teehee. Each of the facts is accompanied by a picture that has been photoshopped by Mike Ahern (some more obviously than others). There's a great deal of silliness throughout. This is usually the sort of book that has me creased up. I love deadpan silliness, I love surreality, quirkiness, and who doesn't love the cuteness of pandas? I certainly enjoyed it, and smiled often, but there just weren't enough laugh out loud moments for me. Greedy thing that I am, I wanted to roar with laughter, and I didn't.
100 Facts About Pandas would make a great stocking filler, and I suppose it is firmly pitched at the Christmas market. It's the sort of book that you can flick through when the whole family is slightly tipsy and share a gentle chuckle. The humour is gentle enough to be appropriate for all ages, although teenagers and adults will get the most from it. It's a beautiful book, with the perfect balance of photos and text - it's substantial enough to offer value for money, but it doesn't make heavy weather of anything or overstay its welcome.
Sometimes there are just books that you wish you enjoyed more, and 100 Facts About Pandas is one of them. I like the premise, mixing silliness with a gentle satire of the many trivia books out there, I'm usually a fan of David O'Doherty's comedy, it's a wonderfully produced book. Humour's certainly a subjective thing, but it needed more belly laughs. Have a flick through it and see if it clicks for you; if it does, you'll have a great time.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.
Tim The Tiny Horse At Large by Harry Hill is another example of a comedian releasing a book for the Christmas market. If you want straight-up trivia, then take a look at The Average Life of the Average Person by Tadg Farrington. If cuteness and comedy in equal measure are what you're looking for in a book, then look no further than I Can Has Cheezburger by Eric Nakagawa. You really should read The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal by Henry Nicholls.
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You can read more book reviews or buy 100 Facts About Pandas by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy 100 Facts About Pandas by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern at Amazon.com.
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