Image: MomJunction Design Team
Since laughter is the best medicine, why not get the best funny books for kids to entertain your children? Reading is one of the best habits you can instill in your child. It helps improve a child’s language skills, enhances their literary proficiency, keeps them hooked, and encourages them to become independent readers. Funny books encourage healthy reading habits in your children and are also wonderful sources of fun. They can leave your kid rolling on the floor laughing.
Megan Imhoff, writer, mom, and founder of Ish Mom, says, “Not every children’s book needs to be educational. Reading for pleasure is an essential part of early literacy and can help develop the skills needed to learn to read. Also, nothing can be more entertaining for your children than laughing aloud to these wonderful books.”
Here are some of our favorite parent-recommended picks you may consider for your children.
Top Picks
Best Funny Books For Children
1. Best Bedtime Story: Interrupting Chicken
Did You Know?Reading helps spark young children’s curiosity and imagination and helps in the development of their brain, social skills, and the ability to focus (1).
Author: David Ezra Stein
The picture book begins with a little red chicken getting ready to settle into the bed for the night. He asks his father to read him a bedtime story. But his father is not sure if he should read a story since the little chicken has the habit of interrupting. The father does start to read, but to no surprise, the little chicken interrupts again! The story is hysterical, and its main characters are rendered funnier with hilarious illustrations.
2. Best Humor: Be Quiet!
Author: Ryan T. Higgins
The tale starts with Rupert, the mouse speaking to the reader and telling them that he will make the book a wordless one. It means there will be no speech balloons. But Rupert’s friends continue talking to him despite him asking them to be quiet. The story becomes funny when Rupert and his friends end up talking about not talking in the book.
3. Best For Reading Practice: The Book with No Pictures
Author: B. J. Novak
The witty title of the book says it all: there are no pictures in the book. There is only text written in large fonts. Novak writes that the reader must say the words aloud. There are different funny and silly words across the book printed in colored ink, prompting the child to speak, making it one of the best books for reluctant readers. ‘The Book with No Pictures’ leads to many laughs, especially when read by parents and children together.
4. Best Sweet And Funny: XO, OX: A Love Story
Author: Adam Rex
Loved by many reviewers, this hilarious story is about an ox falling in love with a celebrity gazelle. In spite of being a simpleton and out of her league, the ox musters up the courage to write a letter expressing his affection for her. The gazelle has several admirers and does not treat the ox any differently, initially. But as they interact more, the gazelle falls in love with the ox and the two become best friends. The giggle-inducing story progresses through the amusing letters written by the ox and the gazelle, giving this picture book a funny angle.
5. Best Interactive: This Book Just Ate My Dog!
Quick FactBooks based on the themes of humor can help relieve stress in children and enhance their social skills to tackle stressful situations (2).
Author: Richard Byrne
A girl named Bella takes her dog for a walk, from one page to another. But as she crosses the page, her dog disappears in the fold of the book while its leash stays in Bella’s hands. Bella has to free her dog and uses the physicality of the book to tug her dog free. The story is funny and interactive, making it the ideal book for independent readers.
6. Best Easy-To-Read: I’m Bored
Author: Michael Ian Black
A young girl is bored, and she complains about it to the reader. The girl discovers a potato while walking around. The potato turns out to be a talking one. The vegetable says that children are boring, but that does not go well with the girl. She lists down all the fun things children can do without realizing that the potato has hilariously turned the tables on her.
7. Best Rhyming Story: The Hiccupotamus
Author: Aaron Zenz
The tale is about a hippopotamus suffering from an acute bout of hiccups. The hippo cannot stop hiccuping, and each time he hiccups, he scares someone around. Fed up with his noisy hiccups, three animals (an elephant, a rhinoceros, and a centipede), decide to find a cure for the ‘Hiccupotamus.’ This funny picture book is written in rhyming phrases with cheerful and adorable illustrations of animals on each page.
8. Best Illustration: Grumpy Monkey
Author: Suzanne Lang
In this story, we meet Jim Panzee, a monkey who wakes up one morning and finds everything to be perfect: the sky so blue and the bananas too sweet. How can one feel sad on such a day?
Well, Jim can and is grumpy about everything. His animal friends ask him the reason, but Jim Panzee does not answer, staying in denial of his grumpiness. The book uses funny illustrations and text to carry the story till the end where we learn the real reason behind Jim’s grumpiness.
9. Best Educational: Blue Hat, Green Hat
Author: Sandra Boynton
On each page is an illustration of an animal wearing a piece of cloth of different colors. The board book is educational, but the blank expressions of the animals and a turkey who always wears its clothes wrong make storytime jovial. She wears the pants on her hand and her shirt on her head! The colorful drawings and corresponding funny text make it an excellent comic book for kids.
10. Best Entertaining: The Day the Crayons Quit
Author: Drew Daywalt
One day, a young boy named Duncan discovers that all his crayons have left the box. Instead of the crayons, there is a pile of letters inside the crayon box. Each letter is a complaint from each crayon. The red crayon complaints that he needs rest since Duncan makes him work more. The purple crayon is unhappy that most of his color goes outside the lines. And so on, each crayon has a silly reason for quitting.
11. Best Fantasy: Room on the Broom
Author: Julia Donaldson
This smile-worthy book tells the story of a witch who is flying around on her magical broom, with her pet cat. A gust of wind blows the witch’s hat, and she lands on the ground to search for it. A dog finds the hat and wants a ride on the broom as a reward for returning the hat to the witch. The witch agrees.
But the witch keeps losing several things, and each time an animal finds it, they expect a ride on the broom. Soon there is not enough room on the broom, and the group encounters a dragon while flying. The cute drawings of the animals on the broom make this picture book quite humorous.
12. Best For Vocabulary: The Pigeon Needs a Bath
Author: Mo Willems
The playful tale begins with a man seeking help in catching the pigeon, who has become very dirty. But the pigeon does not want to have a bath, giving several hilarious reasons to escape. Finally, the pigeon agrees to have a bath but not without thoroughly inspecting his bathtub and the water in it.
13. Best Book About Animals: This Is a Moose
Author: Richard T. Morris
In this laugh-out-loud story, we see a documentary director pick a moose as the star of his film. However, the moose is not performing as per the director’s expectations. Why? Because the moose wants to be an astronaut and not a moose. This is followed by a comical series of events where other animals of the forest help the moose fulfill his dreams.
14. Best Graphic Novel: Dog Man
Author: Dav Pilkey
‘Dog Man’ is a graphic novel where we meet a crime fighter who is half dog and half man. The dog man is a superhero who uses his superhuman strength and a great sense of smell to catch culprits. The best-selling picture book is filled with oodles of chuckle-worthy images and text that will leave a child grinning.
15. Best Page-Turner: The Monster At The End Of The Book
Author: Jon Stone
Grover, the puppet monster, is the main character of this whimsical narrative. He does not want the reader to turn the pages of the book for there is a monster lurking at the end of the book. If you turn the page, Grover reappears asking you not to, as that will lead you to the monster. The story is amusing and will keep readers turning the pages until greeted by a fun surprise on the last page.
How To Choose The Right Funny Book For Kids?
Here’s a list of points to help you find a suitable book for your child.
- Age-appropriate: Choose books appropriate for your child’s age; they are written specifically to suit their reading level and understanding. Avoid books with questionable words and content. Opt for parent-recommended books to ensure the content is child-appropriate.
- Language: Ensure the books are easy to read and understand. Books that contain difficult words or are difficult to comprehend may not be funny for them.
- Length: Consider short and precise books so your child stays engaged and feels motivated to complete them.
- Illustrations: Select books with bright and hilarious illustrations to help build imagination and induce humor.
- Reviews: Check the testimonials left by other parents to determine if a book is suitable for your child.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. At what age should kids start reading books?
Children usually start reading familiar stories when they are around five years old. At this age, they also start verbalizing or decoding new and unfamiliar words through pictures.
2. What is the best time for kids to read funny books?
There is no particular time for children to read funny books. You may indulge them in fun reading to make them laugh out loud, lighten the mood and reduce screen time.
3. Do funny books help with a child’s development?
Lighthearted, funny books provide a joyful and uplifting experience that encourages daily reading habits. When children enjoy what they read, they read more regularly, thus improving reading comprehension, social skills, and overall linguistic and cognitive skills. Funny books also help children overcome difficult situations by showing them that it is okay to make mistakes and be themselves.
Why Trust MomJunction?
Wedetso Chirhah has curated a list of the funniest books for kids to keep them entertained, inculcate the habit of reading, and develop a sense of humor. He is a passionate writer and reviewer who specializes in product reviews across the books and kids’ essentials segments. His research process involves in-depth examination into each product’s features, benefits, and user feedback before recommending the best options to his readers. These best-selling books are age-appropriate and recommended by readers across different websites.
The Bottom Line
Engaging your child in reading is the best way to improve their learning and vocabulary. While academic books and books that showcase the author’s literary expertise are important for children, a light and humorous read can also help your child relax and calm down. These best funny books for kids feature easy-to-read texts and are kid-friendly and hilarious. Interrupting Chicken is a humorous bedtime story for young readers. The Book with No Pictures has a clever use of amusing words in large fonts that encourage children to read aloud, and This Book Just Ate My Dog! requires children to interact with the book, creating a unique and engaging reading adventure. These funny books will assist you in instilling the good habit of book reading in your child and can help shape them into a well-rounded personality.
Infographic: How Do Humor And Laughter Benefit A Child?
Reading funny books is a great way to keep your child entertained and happy. However, even giggles and chuckles can contribute to your child’s cognitive and physical development. Explore the infographic below to discover how humor and laughter can benefit children. Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
References
- Reading and storytelling with babies and children
https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/reading-storytelling#:~:text=learn%20to%20value%20books%20and - Children and laughter: A winning combination – MSU Extension
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/children_and_laughter_a_winning_combination
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