Ricky Gervais, best known for his brilliant work on "The Office" as well as the HBO series "Extras" and his most-popular-in-all-the-world podcast (which I've discussed earlier), is also an author of things that lands somewhere oddly between children's books (J.K. Rowling offers the money quote on the back of his latest work) and novelty items (which is somewhat odd, as Gervais hates novelty songs). His first book, "Flanimals," was kind of a disappointment, but a best-seller nonetheless. The inevitable new sequel, "More Flanimals" (Putnam, $15.99), is a lot funnier, a lot oddly darker.

Both books offer nonsensical explications of fanciful creatures, quite cutely illustrated by Rob Steen. This time, Gervais expands beyond mere curioddities to find fun with evolution (an obsession of Gervais' on his British radio show, which preceded and informed the podcast) and the quiet desperation of existence.

Consider this passage, describing something he names the "Grommomulunt:" "It has no mouth, ears, nose, legs or internal organs, but just looks forward to things changing when it sheds its skin and metamorphoses into an adult. Unfortunately, the only change that takes place when it reaches adulthood is that its eyes fall off. It does shed its skin, but there is no new skin underneath, so its insides just leak into the ground. Have you ever heard a stain weep?"

Or this, for the "Dweezle Muzzbag:" "Angry, tired and fed up with using its legs to get around, it sheds them so it can rest. Unfortunately, legs falling off is one of the most painful things ever and it screams itself to death in agony. Hardly a rest, is it? So be careful what you wish for."

If I quoted any more, I'd risk accusations of plagiarizing most of the book (it's a slender 64 pages, most of them taken up with those aforementioned illustrations). But you get the idea. This one seems less destined than his first book to delight the kids, but will likely prove more satisfying for his fan base.