Blob: The Ugliest Animal in the World by Joy Sorman (review)

This is it, this is the year when Blob the blobfish's long journey from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the stage before the judges of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society contest will finally be worth it when he takes the title of Ugliest Animal in the World. His persistence pays off when his paunchy, pink figure lands the win, launching him into a world tour as the ambassador of ugly animals and earning him the company of the rich and wealthy, including the Queen of England. The fame goes to his shapeless, gelatinous head, though, and soon he's a demanding diva, but as the end of his year-long tenure as Ugliest Animal approaches, he finds himself wondering who he will be without the crown. There is a delightful tongue-in-cheek element to this French import, with Blob utterly horrified when a judge calls him "more darling and adorable than ugly and repulsive" in one of his prior failed attempts to win the contest, and he's even more disgusted when another wants to adopt him as a pet. Tallec's illustrations really steal the show, though, with oblong, corpulent Blob donning shades as he mugs with models and rappers, looking balefully out his penthouse window as his reign nears its end, and holding court with other underwater life when he returns home with his tales of glory. For all its humor, the narration ends on an introspective note about perception and appearance as a smug Blob regales a less than impressed fishy audience with his stories from life above: "Sometimes, the bright lights and sparkling diamonds he describes seem far from beautiful." KQG