After defeating “the Curse,” twelve-year-old Matt just wants to relax. But Dad has another idea—Matt needs to “build some character,” whatever THAT means. So Matt ends up pet sitting for his neighbor, Farmer Jed. Easy enough, right? Wrong.
In the highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling Matt Sprouts and the Curse of the Ten Broken Toes, Matt learns to be open-minded, admit mistakes, not judge others, and responsible pet and animal ownership, all in wacky, LOL
moments.
So much for “time to relax”!
In the library where I work, the kids’ section is full of brilliant books, but the funny stories are by far the most popular. It’s not hard to see why. Funny kids’ books make the kinds of jokes that kids make themselves, explore ridiculous situations, and play with words and visuals, and still have a core made up of great characters and stories. Many children’s writers have put together funny series that work as stand-alone stories while still building an ongoing narrative, following protagonists that soon become beloved favourites. Funny kids’ books often play on other genres, framing the hijinks around heists, treasure-seeking adventures, or sports tournaments.
Funny kids’ books can be versatile in other ways, too. Many use a large amount of illustration, sometimes blurring the boundary between traditional and graphic novels. As well as adding to the humour, which allows the author to have visual jokes alongside the written ones, this also makes them much more accessible to reluctant readers, who aren’t put off by big walls of text. Difficult topics can often be more accessible and less daunting when they’re brought in using humour, making funny kids’ books a great way to explore these subjects with young readers.
Here are some of the best new funny kids’ books to add to your shelves.
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Making Enemies by Louie Stowell
In this fourth installment in Stowell’s hilarious Norse myth-inspired series, Loki is still stuck on Earth in the form of a schoolkid while he learns to be good. However, his godly past comes back to bite him when the elf Vinir turns up at his school, also as a human child, to settle an old score through a duel. With plenty of funny illustrations alongside a high-action story, Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Making Enemies is great for young readers who love comedy with their adventure tales.
Mind and Me: Going to Bat by Sunita Chawdhary
Anxiety isn’t funny to experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see the humour when finding ways to deal with it. In the latest Mind and Me book, Maya wants to join the school cricket team, and Mind, the personification of her anxiety, is desperate to help…but often ends up hindering things instead. Maya and Mind go through plenty of funny hi-jinks in the buildup to Maya’s first cricket game in a story that deals with serious issues in a way that younger kids can engage with.
The Great Crisp Robbery by Pamela Butchart
Izzy and her friends are looking forward to their school trip, travelling overnight on a sleeper train. But things soon start going wrong. Their teacher disappears, the carriages are full of odd passengers, and even the dimensions of the train itself start going wrong. The Great Crisp Robbery plays with reality and pushes things to surreal limits, creating a funny, wacky story that child readers will love.
Freedom Fire: Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos by Tracey Baptiste
First in a new magical series, Carnival Chaos tells the tale of Misty and her cousins Aiden and Brooke, who discover that they are mokos—people with powerful protection magic. The cousins are excited about the upcoming carnival, but things start going wrong as a malign magical force interferes, turning all of the events into chaos. Misty, Aiden, and Brooke have to save the carnival in a story with plenty of humour and heart.
Test Trouble by Serena Patel
Arun isn’t ready to take his maths test, and he’s determined to get out of it any way he possibly can. Young readers will laugh at Arun’s ever-more-ridiculous schemes to try to make sure that the test doesn’t happen. He goes from faking being ill to rallying the entire school against all tests ever in this story that explores facing your fears and learning to cope with difficult things.
Grimwood: Party Animals by Nadia Shireen
There are plenty of laughs and funny illustrations in this latest installment in the Grimwood series, a story set in a forest full of zany animals. Sharon the Party Crow is exhausted after partying too hard, and the other animals in the forest don’t know what to do without her. So, they band together and get their best dance moves in order to try to help Sharon get back in the party mood again.
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness
Another animal-based story for fans of anthropomorphic fun, Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody tells the tale of Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia, monitor lizard students who have just been made hall monitors at their all-animal school. Keeping order in the school is more difficult than the young lizards initially thought, especially as one of the students is the son of a notorious supervillain set on causing havoc.
Dreamweavers: Chaos of the Fun Fiend by Annabelle Sami
In this magical comedy book, Tito and his friend Neena go to visit Tito’s grandparents for the summer. Tito is surprised to find that his usually funny, upbeat grandparents have suddenly become the most boring people in the world. He and Neena decide to find out who has stolen the fun from Tito’s family.
Are the kids in your life a little too young for these books? Try Grumpy Monkeys, Sneaky Alligators, and More: 10 Funny Books for Preschoolers. If they’re older, check out 15 Laugh Out Loud Funny Books for Teens.
