Funny books are the perfect go-to when kids are ready to step up to chapter books. What kid can resist reading a book that comes with loads of laughs, right?
Most parents – and kids – know all about Jeff Kinney’s super-popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Ditto for Terry Denton and Andy Griffiths’ Treehouse series. But what do you reach for to keep the kids reading when these books are done?
Here’s 9 more funny book series’ for kids. That’s 76 junior chapter books in total! And all guaranteed to have children in stitches.
1. Timmy Failure
I discovered Timmy Failure way back when my eldest was still in primary school. I knew right away that Stephan Pastis’ debut book was a winner because my then-eight-year-old kept running into the room to share bits from the book with me, laughing like a complete loon as he read them out loud. Since then, Pastis has added another six books to the series about Timmy Failure, the wanna-be schoolyard detective with a polar bear sidekick, the dodgiest client list you’ve ever seen and a total deadpan sense of humour. If this series doesn’t slay your middle-schooler, I want to know about it.
Start with Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis, Penguin. 7 books in series.
2. Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Way, way before Andy and Terry were getting silly in their ever-towering treehouse, a bunch of kids were having the time of their lives in the equally towering Wayside School. The school was meant to be 30 classrooms across, but the damn builders buggered up and built it 30 classrooms high. There’s shenanigans everywhere you look, from a teacher who turns kids into apples to rainbow moustaches and dead rats masquerading as students. Even better, Sachar has just written a new Wayside School story, 20 years after he penned the original yarns. If your kid has never read a Louis Sachar book before (and if they’re a chapter book novice, just starting out, that seems likely) get ready for them to declare Sachar their favourite author.
Start with Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, Harper Collins. 4 books in series.
3. Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure
Sometimes too much Diary of a Wimpy Kid really isn’t enough. And that’s when I recommend reaching for Kinney’s new series, which turns pudgy, loveable Rowley from accomodating sidekick to bonafide chapter book star. Kinney gives us the chance to see life with Wimpy Kid hero Greg Heffley through Rowley’s eyes. And it makes for a pretty interesting, though still wildly funny, change. What hasn’t changed is the supremely crazy antics and hilariously embarrassing situations these two best friends find themselves in.
Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid and Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure by Jeff Kinney, Penguin. 2 books in series.
4. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates
When you put ‘brilliant’ on the front cover of your book, you’re setting the bar pretty high. Lucky for all those fickle middle-grade readers, the world of Tom Gates really is brilliant. It has that cartoony mix of words and illustrations that kids really, really love, with a very appealing British rather than Yankee twist. Tom is a middle-grade kid with a propensity for calamitous trouble. Chuck in a pair of embarrassing parents, a grumpy big sister, a stack of annoying classmates and plenty of other hilariously colourful characters and you can imagine the chaos that unfolds in Tom Gates’ world. And if the kids like reading it, you can expect them to be busy for a while because Pichon has punched out 17 – yes, 17 – Tom Gates’ books so far.
Start with The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon, Scholastic. 17 books in series.
5. Middle School
James Patterson‘s hilarious spin through middle school is so popular with kids that the series has clocked up 12 books already. That’s 12 books packed with all the laughs and silliness that 10-to-12-year-olds need if you’re going to distract them from their devices. Rafe Katchadorian is always up to something, whether it’s setting up a competition to break all the annoying school rules (what kid hasn’t dreamed about doing that!) or tackling some other life-and-death-for-middle-schoolers situation. For book one, this means dealing with a school bully, a not-so-nice stepfather and some classroom crushes, though all with a good mix of humour to temper some of the seriousness.
Start with Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson, Cornerstone. 12 books in series.
6. Planet Omar
First came Yankee Greg Heffley. Then Brit Tom Gates. Now make way for British-Muslim kid Omar dishing up that mix of funny prose and cartoon-style doodles that young readers lap up. Omar lives with his brother Esi, sister Maryam and his science-obsessed parents. Expect the usual middle-grade silliness – epic Nerf gun battles, snot jokes and the like – with a little bit of Muslim culture thrown in. So Omar ropes in his friends to stop the local mosque closing down, his family celebrates Eid and there’s lots of jokes about prayers. A great own-voices book, there are now three Planet Omar books in the series to chuckle over.
Start with Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian, Hachette. 3 books so far in series.
7. Bad Guys
A wolf, a shark, a snake and a piranha walk into a bar. Ok, not really. But imagine the punchline! Actually, you don’t need to because Blabey’s whole Bad Guys book series is one giant punchline. One that will leave your kid in stitches because it’s that funny. How can it not be when it’s about four bad guys who are earnestly trying to turn over a new leaf and become good guys. They soon realise it’s not as easy as all that to be good. But they’re giving it their best shot anyway, with hilarious consequences. Blabey’s easy-to-read prose and rib-tickling illustrations make The Bad Guys especially excellent for reluctant readers. There’s 11 books so far in the series and counting.
Start with The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey, Scholastic. 11 books in series.
8. Weirdo!
Weirdo! is another must-read middle-grade book series and not just because it adds another diverse character to the funny chapter books genre. Anh Do, who quite frankly is a national living treasure, has created a book series that’s fresh and funny and relevant … and deserves a place on every Aussie kid’s bookshelf. Meet Weir Do. Yep, that’s his name. Weir Do, gettit? What were Weir’s parents thinking? No wonder the kids at school give him such a hard time. And the story gets more ridiculous as you go. Which means your kid will want to read all 15 books in the Weirdo! series.
Start with Weirdo! by Anh Do, Scholastic Australia. 15 books in series.
9. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Judy Blume is the Queen of kid-lit. No question. And her Fudge series is timeless and incredibly, hilariously funny. Which is just what books for this age group should be. Peter has a little brother called Fudge. And he’s trouble. Tantrums, meltdowns and all sorts of catastrophes – nothing goes smoothly when Fudge is around. But Peter finally cracks when Fudge does something unspeakable to his pet turtle, Dribble. The Fudge series follows Peter from fourth grade all the way into high school, with more funny sibling dramas as the brothers grow. Honestly, it’s absolute gold.
Start with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume, Pan Macmillan. 5 books in series.
Want more great books for kids? Check out these books for kids who like Percy Jackson or these books for kids who love footy.
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