''The Fantastic Flying Journey'' () is a children's book written by Gerald Durrell. It is a story about three children and their great-uncle Lancelot travelling around the world in a hot air balloon. It was published by

Conran Octopus Conran Octopus is a division of Octopus Publishing Group, a cross-platform illustrated book publisher. Including architecture, design and gardening. It was founded in 1984 by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn, and publishes about eight titles ...

, in 1987. It is illustrated by

Graham Percy Graham Percy (7 June 1938 – 4 January 2008) was a New Zealand-born artist, designer and illustrator. His work was the subject of ''The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy'', a major posthumous exhibition of his work which was shown at ga ...

. In 1989, Durrell wrote a sequel for this book called '' The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure''.

Plot summary

One day, a hot air balloon attached to a huge straw house, lands in the garden of the Dollybutts. The fat old man who owns it is Great-Uncle Lancelot. He tells Mrs Dollybutt and her three children that he is going to find his brother, Perceval, who is lost in the jungles of Africa, looking for gorillas. Perceval, a scientist, invented a magic dust which enables people to communicate with animals. Lancelot takes the three children, Emma, Ivan and Conrad with him in the hot air balloon, which he has called Belladonna, to track Uncle Perceval. On their way, they meet several animals which they can talk to (because of the dust), such as a swallow, a

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

and a fennec fox, who tell them many interesting facts about their lives. In the jungle, the gorillas tell them that Perceval left for South Africa, to meet some

elephants Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and ...

. Lancelot and the three children follow Perceval to South Africa, and then to Australia, the North Pole, Canada,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, Brazil and Patagonia. On their way, they meet a

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

, a rhinoceros, some koalas, a platypus, a blue whale, some killer whales,

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

s, musk oxen,

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s, buffalos, monarch butterflies, a boa constrictor, some howler monkeys,

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s and elephant seals. Everywhere, they learn something about the animals, their habitat, behaviour and dangers threatening them. In the end, the elephant seal tells them that Uncle Perceval has returned to Britain. So they follow him there, and find Perceval in the Dollybutts' house. The chase lasted a whole year, but the children all agree it was not a waste of time after all.

Background

* Durrell based the character of Great-Uncle Lancelot on himself. His brother Perceval was loosely based on Lawrence Durrell. * The personality of the animals in the book usually reflects Durrell's opinion about those species. For examples, the gorillas have a lovable personality, because Durrell was on good terms with his gorillas at the

Jersey Zoo Jersey Zoo (formerly Durrell Wildlife Park) is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell (1925–1995). It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. ...

. On the contrary, the camel is rude and nasty, because when Durrell worked at Whipsnade Zoo, he was bitten by a camel.

TV series adaptation

In 2001, a 2D-animated children's television show was produced by Two Sides TV and TV-Loonland AG based on the book. In addition to the original plot, a villain called Lucretia Moore follows Lancelot and the children in their air balloon, and tries to sabotage their attempts to find Perceval, so she can steal the magic dust. She wants it for her own benefits as the head of the world's largest pet food company. Lucretia follows the balloon with her spineless subordinate assistant in a modern helicopter. In each episode, Lucretia manages to hinder the groups travels but they always get away in the knick of time. The television series was broadcast in the UK and Australia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fantastic Flying Journey, The 1987 British novels British children's novels Books by Gerald Durrell 1987 children's books 1987 science fiction novels