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Poll: What are your favorite laugh-out-loud reads?
I have been attacked at the least expected places.
In my car on the way to school, leaving me covered in coffee while I listened to Libba Bray’s Going Bovine.
In my classroom while I paged through Jesse Andrew’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl or Geoff Herbach’s Stupid Fast.
At the library when I began reading Linda Urban’s Crooked Kind of Perfect.
On my princess chair at home as I enjoyed every last one of Tom Angleberger’s books.
Attacked by fits of giggles.
It has happened to you all, Nerdy friends. I’m sure of it.
You start to chuckle and, as you attempt to contain yourself, tears start to stream down your face.
People look at you and wonder what in the world is wrong with you.
And then they see the book.
It’s a great conversation starter and a nearly guaranteed way to sell books to kids. If it makes you laugh so hard that you snort, it’s worth a look.
So share your favorite laugh-out-loud titles in the comments so we can all laugh with you.
(Just in case you’re looking for more funny titles than get shared below, check out the archive of March 2013’s #titletalk chat. Plan on joining us on the last Sunday of each month from 8-9 pm EST. See http://titletalk.wikispaces.com for more information! )
Cindy Minnich is lucky enough to live the charmed life of a high school English teacher, mom to one future librarian, and wife to a fellow reader. She can be found on Twitter as @cbethm, on web at http://www.chartingbythestars.com, and in real life on her princess chair enjoying a book and a cup of coffee.
Nerdy Book Club 
Hands down, Swim the Fly! I was on a plane crying and laughing. I probably scared the other passengers.
Yes! I just listened to this in the car, and I was crying from laughing so hard. 🙂
My favorite funny title is Looking for Bobowicz.
Judith Viorst’s Lulu books – I loved Lulu and the Brontosaurus and was thrilled when Lulu Walks the Dogs came out. The voice in those books and the way she talks directly to the reader on occasion make them hilarious. My first graders loved them too. They search for them at the library every week now.
School!: Adventures at the Harvey N. Trouble Elementary School – the only problem with this book is that I have to explain many of the puns to the students – but I found it hysterical!
Another one – Chopsticks – unfortunately my students said that the book was funny, but it was funnier watching me enjoy it …
Of kids’ books, there are so many:
Recently, Tom Angleberger’s “Face Mustache” or “Horton Halfpott”.
“The Adventures of Nanny Piggins” by Spratt
Philip Aardagh’s “Eddie Dickens” trilogy or “Unlikely Exploits” trilogy
Gary Paulsen’s “Masters of Disaster”
Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” (all of them!)
Dave Barry’s “Science Fair”
And of adult books — ANYTHING by Dave Barry, and Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide” series.
Mick Harte was Here by Barbara Park and Fig Pudding by Ralph Fletcher have the perfect blend of laughter, tears, and tears of laughter.
Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian made me laugh out loud!
The first chapter of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. My class and I laughed until there were tears.
The first book that popped into my head was The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Susan Stevens Crummel and Janet Stevens. Every time I read that book to my class I try to contain my laughter, but all that manages to do is to force my laughter to come out in snorts!
Skinnybones by Barbara Park. Read it aloud to my class–I could read it faster to myself, and could hardly get the words out. I think they thought I was crazy!
I absolutely laughed my head off at Richard Peck’s A Year Down Yonder. Hilarious!
Hey all! I will share one of my laugh out loud writers. Anna already mentioned SkinnyBones! Barbara Park of Junie B fame. Her middle grade novels make me giggle and laugh even as I remember them. Maxie, Rosie and Earl: Partners in Grime/The Kid in the Red Jacket/Don’t Make Me Smile to name a few. And there is my favorite laugh out loud, saddest book ever by her…Mick Harte Was Here. Her balance of humor and sad in that book is remarkable.
Bridget Jones Diary. And, believe it or not, The Fault in our Stars-the laughter part of this book is what makes it so appealing and helps us to embrace the protagonist’s world-even with stage four cancer, she’s a hoot!!
Fudge-a-mania, The BFG, and for older kids and grown ups, The Princess Bride and A Confederacy of Dunces.
Oh! And Stupid Fast. I love Felton.
I really enjoyed Stupid Fast.
Paddington Bear by Michael Bond – I know I’ve mentioned these books recently but they’re a classic and so funny. I’m pushing for them to have a resurgence in popularity. Coincidentally, Anita Silvey featured Paddington today (March 25th) on her fabulous Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac blog.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – yes, this tackles some very serious subjects but there is also a great deal of humor. The antics of Jem, Scout, and Dill never fail to crack me up.
For teachers: Philip Done’s Thirty-two Third Graders and One Class Bunny…The Laminating Machine…made the mistake of reading it in the doctor’s office! 🙂
For kids: any of the Peter and Fudge books…hilarious
Mothership by Martin Leicht…teen pregnancy had never been so hilarious! The Bloody Jack books by L.A. Meyer, Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, and just about anything by E. Lockhart are good for laugh out loud moments. As for adult reads, I always have moments of guffawing when listening to a Flavia de Luce mystery by Alan Bradley. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum can be hilarious as well. I also LOVE Lisa Lutz’s Spellman Files series. I love a hilarious book, but I think humor is really difficult to get right.
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka–really, anything by Jon S.
I declared that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was the funniest YA novel I had ever read. And, maybe the raunchiest. Raunchy with a big ♥. I was crying while waiting in the car rider line to pick up my son from high school. Oh, and that son in high school part? Helped me TREMENDOUSLY relate to the characters in the book. I really loved this book, and the story behind the book, and that it was the author’s debut effort, and that it’s found lots of fans out there. I love success stories.
Books by Gordon Korman have been making me laugh out loud for 20+ years. The Toilet Paper Tigers and Losing Joe’s Place are two of my favorites. S.O.R. Losers and Romeo and Juliet–Together (And Alive!) at Last by Avi also cause me to snort giggle every time I read them.
If someone had been around when I first read My Life in Dog Years, they would have seriously questioned my sanity. I was literally screaming with laughter during the chapter about his Great Dane.
Completely agree with you! I read these stories to my 3rd grade class and we laughed so hard we cried!
The Know Nothings Talk Turkey by Michele Sobel Spirn and R. W. Alley :0) When my daughter read this book to me I thought I would split my side open I laughed so hard.
Two books which had me laughing out loud are The Adventures of Nanny Piggins and Nanny Piggins and The Wicked Plan by R. A. Spratt with illustrations by Dan Santat. The first story in How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen had me gasping for air as did several incidents in Harris and Me. Dan Santat’s graphic novel Sidekicks had my students and I hooting and hollering. And of course The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is utterly ridiculous at times.
Oh my goodness, BOSSYPANTS by Tina Fey. The poor guy sitting next to me on a plane from Chicago to Dallas had clearly calculated how long it would take him to simultaneously leap over me into the aisle and push the attendant call button in one fell swoop should I spontaneously combust.
HA! I read bits to my husband (between snorts of hysterical laughter) on a plane trip he was all too ready to complete. I need to read it again!
Bink and Gollie 2, Rabbit and Robot, Dead End in Norvelt, Tales of a 4th grade Nothing (when I was in 4th grade)
Lunch Lady 9 is super funny:)
Prince of the Pond by Donna Jo Napoli — the scene where the frog is on the snapping turtle’s back still gets quoted in my family (you one dumb fawg and I one mad tuh-tuh). Mr. Putter and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant as well as her Poppleton series (“NOT RELAXED!”)
Jeremy Bender vs, the Cupcake Cadets, Dark Lord: The Early Years, Timmy Failure 🙂
Terry Pratchett’s Men At Arms was my first encounter of uncontrollable laughter at a book… I remember thinking his footnotes were hilarious- as was the concept of footnotes in a fictional tale- pure comedic brilliance to my ten year old mind. After that, Judy Blume’s Fudge-A-Mania still makes my belly shake to this day. And oh man… Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka is my absolute favorite “laugh aloud read aloud.” And thank you to whoever mentioned Hitchhiker’s Guide. How could i forget?
Chet Gecko by Bruce Hale; Shredderman by vandraanen,
Dead End in Norvelt had me laughing out loud. I was able to visualize so vividly the action in the story. Gantos is a genius.
Of course anything by Mo Willems, especially the Gerald and Piggie books make me and my kids laugh hysterically, no matter how many times we read them out loud. I’m currently reading Pippi Longstocking out loud with the kids, and it has been a riot! I read Pippi obsessively as a kid. I wanted to be a mashed up version of her and Anne Shirley. But reading Pippi out loud, as an adult with my kids, is a joyful experience!
Our current read-aloud is HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM by Christopher Healy. It is so funny! Has anyone mentioned this one yet?
For Australians, ‘Two Weeks with the Queen’ by Morris Gleitzman. A perfect blend of humour and tragedy.
I have to agree with Stupid Fast and Knucklehead. And I nearly got kicked out of the jury duty holding room when I was reading A Crooked Kind of Perfect. However, the book that really had me laughing (I am not quite bold enough to hand it to students, but I have passed it along to friends to give to their sons) is Alan Lawrence Sitomer’s The Downside of Being Up.
For adult books:
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel. I love this book and give it out to everyone. Kimmel evokes her childhood in a collection of hilarious and touching vignettes. Somehow Haven Kimmel keeps the story in the memory and voice of a third grade girl without her adult sensibility and understanding inform it. It remains in a small child’s self-involved world. This is a girl who pretty much was allowed to run wild but who was loved by her family and neighbors.
Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley. A funny political satire and send up of the special interest lobbyists (tobacco industry specifically in this story) that had me laughing out loud on a long road trip and made the miles fly by. Well, that and the gorgeous scenery along the Oregon coast.
Kids- Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type & Duck for President
Adult- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal & Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer. A hysterically fun read aloud.
Babymouse is it for me!!
Shannon
http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com
A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears for full out silliness and Freak the Mighty…funny, sad, action packed and scary wrapped into one
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key & Joey Pigza Loses Control are two books by Jack Gantos that are laugh out loud funny! Love Jon Scieszka’s Knucklehead and Guys Read: Funny Business.