April is National Humour Month!
This month we are celebrating all things funny!
National Humor Month is celebrated annually starting with April Fool’s Day on April 1st! This celebration started in 1976 by author Larry Wilde.
The purpose of National Humor Month is to promote the health benefits of laughter. Laughing can help you to reduce stress, boost your immunity, and improve your mental health.
This month we are highlighting funny books for the middle grades. This includes joke books and funny books (even a few graphic novels!) Research also suggests that laughter reduces stress hormones, improves blood flow, and acts as a natural pain reliever.
Some fun ways to celebrate this month include telling jokes, watch a funny movie, and read a funny book!
So check out something to tickle your funny bone and happy reading!
Knock Knock
Saxton Freymann
Knock knock jokes were screaming for their own book. To do this classic joke justice, we decided to gather fourteen of the best-known and most talented children’s book artists to illustrate their favourite punchlines. The results are wacky, zany, and absolutely hilarious.
If you knock on Tomie dePaola’s door, beware! Is that a girl or a gorilla? Who’s knocking at Saxton Freymann’s door? Just a couple of talking lettuces. Talking lettuces?! One impatient cow can hardly wait to get through Laurie Keller’s door, and David Small has a surprise waiting for his intruding vampire.
Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
Jessica Kim
On the outside, Yumi Chung suffers from #shygirlproblems, a perm-gone-wrong, and kids calling her “Yu-MEAT” because she smells like her family’s Korean barbecue restaurant. On the inside, Yumi is ready for her Netflix stand-up special. Her notebook is filled with mortifying memories that she’s reworked into comedy gold. All she needs is a stage and courage.
Instead of spending the summer studying her favorite YouTube comedians, Yumi is enrolled in test-prep tutoring to qualify for a private school scholarship, which will help in a time of hardship at the restaurant. One day after class, Yumi stumbles on an opportunity that will change her life: a comedy camp for kids taught by one of her favorite YouTube stars. The only problem is that the instructor and all the students think she’s a girl named Kay Nakamura–and Yumi doesn’t correct them.
As this case of mistaken identity unravels, Yumi must decide to stand up and reveal the truth or risk losing her dreams and disappointing everyone she cares about.
The Millicent Quibb: School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science
Kate McKinnon
So, you want to be a young mad scientist. Congratulations! Admitting it is the first step. The second step is reading the (definitely true) tale of the Porch sisters…
Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee Porch do not belong. They don’t belong in the snooty town of Antiquarium, where all girls have to go to etiquette school and the only dog allowed is the bichon frisé. They don’t belong with their adoptive family, where all their cousins are named Lavinia and their Aunt has more brooches than books. And they certainly don’t belong at Mrs. Wintermacher’s etiquette school–they’re far more interested in science. After getting kicked out of the last etiquette school that would take them, the girls expect to be sent away for good… until they receive a mysterious invitation to new school.
Suddenly the girls are under the tutelage of the infamous Millicent Quibb–a mad scientist with worms in her hair and oysters in her bathtub. At 231 Mysterium Way, the pizza is fatal, the bus is powered by Gerbils, and the Dean of Students is a hermit crab. Dangerous? Yes! More fun than they’ve ever had? Absolutely! But when the sisters are asked to save their town from an evil cabal of nefarious mad scientists, they must learn to embrace what has always made them stand out, and determine what side they’re on–before it’s too late!
The Best Man
Richard Peck
Archer Magill has spent a lively five years of grade school with one eye out in search of grown-up role models. Three of the best are his grandpa, the great architect; his dad, the great vintage car customizer,; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. These are the three he wants to be. Along the way he finds a fourth–Mr. McLeod, a teacher. In fact, the first male teacher in the history of the school.
But now here comes middle school and puberty. Change. Archer wonders how much change has to happen before his voice does. He doesn’t see too far ahead, so every day or so a startling revelation breaks over him. Then a really big one when he’s the best man at the wedding of two of his role models. But that gets ahead of the story.
Mubuhay!
Zachary Sterling
Can two kids save the world and work their family food truck?
First-generation Filipino siblings JJ and Althea struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck by dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! And their mom is always pointing out lessons from Filipino folklore — annoying tales they’ve heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the folklore may be more real that they’d suspected. Can they embrace who they really are and save their family?
Class Dismissed
Allan Woodrow
Class 507 is the worst class Ms. Bryce has ever taught. And she would know — she’s been teaching forever. They are so terrible that when a science experiment goes disastrously wrong (again), Ms. Bryce has had it and quits in the middle of the lesson. But through a mix-up, the school office never finds out.
Which means … Class 507 is teacher-free!
The class figures if they don’t tell anyone, it’ll be one big holiday. Kyle and his friends can play games all day. Samantha decides she’ll read magazines and give everyone (much needed) fashion advice. Adam can doodle everywhere without getting in trouble. Eric will be able to write stories with no one bothering him. And Maggie … well, as the smartest kid in the class she has an ambitious plan for this epic opportunity.
But can Class 507 keep the principal, the rest of the students, and their parents from finding out … or will the greatest school year ever turn into the worst disaster in school history?
1001 Kids’ Jokes
Kay Barnham
This hilarious children’s joke book is jam-packed with 1001 ‘great gags to get you giggling!
Have you ever laughed 1001 times in a row? Well, take a deep breath, because you’re about to! Are you ready to giggle until your sides hurt? If you love laughter more than worms like to wiggle, then this is the book for you! With eye-wateringly funny chapters and hilarious cartoons for bonus bursts of laughter, you’re sure to find the perfect joke to leave your family and friends in stitches!
To Night Owl From Dogfish
Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer
Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.
When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends–and possibly, one day, even sisters.
But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they find themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can’t imagine life without each other, will Bett and Avery (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?
Stinky’s Stories: The Boy Who Cried Underpants
J.J. & Chris Grabstein
Underwear has never been so much fun to wear!
It’s story time at Hickleberry Elementary with Stinky the stuffed skunk! You’ve probably heard of the boy who cried wolf, but do you know what happened after no one believed him? Well, according to Stinky, the boy moves away to the Big City, where he gets a job crying wolf for The William D. Wolfe Company, Makers Of All Sorts Of Fine And Fancy Stuff.
But when the boy gets bored again, he decides to use his talents to cry UNDERPANTS instead. When the queen hears his cries, she takes great offense–how dare he–and suddenly, the Big City is sent into total chaos! Will the boy be able to save the day before it all gets too smelly
Jokelopedia: The Biggest, Best, Silliest, Dumbest Joke Book Ever
Ilana Weitzman
It’s the mother of all kids’ joke books–an all-encompassing, gut-busting, and bestselling collection of more than 1,700 jokes, tongue-twisters, riddles, and puns for all occasions.
And for all aspiring comedians, there are joke-telling pointers and tips, funny facts, and spotlights on comic TV shows, books, and actors, from Steve Carell to Tina Fey to SpongeBob Squarepants. It’s the ultimate gift for the incurable jokester.
The Adventures of Invisible Boy
Doogie Horner
Think your wildest wish can’t come true? Just wait! It’s his first day at a new school, and Stanley wishes he could disappear. He can hardly believe it when, after a big spill at the science fair, POOF! Stanley is invisible! It’s awesome! He can do anything he wants, and no one will know!
But Stanley isn’t the only one who turned invisible. The inventor of the potion is not happy about the accident and takes his anger out on kids all over town.
Stanley wants to use his power for good . . . which means going up against the one person who can make him visible again.
Get ready for a battle of the ages.
Slug Fest
Gordon Korman
Yash is the best athlete at Robinette Middle School–so good, in fact, that he’s already playing on the high school’s JV sports teams. Imagine his shock when he learns that his JV practices have kept him from earning a state-mandated credit for eighth-grade PE. To graduate, he has to take Physical Education Equivalency–PEE, also known as “Slugfest”–in summer school.
Yash gets to know his fellow “slugs”: Kaden, an academic superstar who’s physically hopeless; twins Sarah and Stewart, who are too busy trying to kill each other to do any real PE; Jesse, a notorious prankster; Arabella, who protests everything; and Cleo, a natural athlete who has sworn off sports.
But when one of them tries to blow the lid off a scandal that could make all their time in summer school a waste, Yash is forced to take drastic action.
Teaming up with the most hapless crew in school can really surprise a person. And their teacher might be hiding the biggest surprise yet. . . .
belly up
Stuart Gibbs
12 year old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has got a murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. Henry, the hippopatamus at the brand-new nationally known FunJungle, has gone belly up. Even though it’s claimed he died of natural causes, Teddy smells something fishy and it sure ain’t the polar bear’s lunch.
Dealing with the zoo’s top brass proves to be nothing but a waste of time. They want to see any trace of Henry’s death disappear like yesterday’s paper. So Teddy sets out to find the truth. With the help of Summer McCraken, a fiesty girl with secrets of her own, the two narrow down their prime suspects. Is it Martin Del Gato, FunJungle’s head of operations who hates kids and hates animals even more? Or J.J McCraken, the owner of FunJungle and Summer’s father, who has more concern for the dough he’s raking in than the animals in the zoo?
As their investigation goes on, Teddy gets squeezed on all sides to quit asking questions or Henry won’t be the only animal in the zoo to turn up dead. The deeper Teddy and Summer get, they had better make sure they want to know what they want to know because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can’t be kept in a cage!
The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza
Mac Barnett
Something terrible is happening in the skies! Rats are eating the MOON!
There’s only ONE hero for the job, a bold and fearsome beast bioengineered in a secret lab to be the moon’s savior and Earth’s last hope! And that hero is . . . a cat. A cat who will be blasted into space!
Accompanied by the imperious Moon Queen and LOZ 4000, a toenail clipping robot, the First Cat in Space journeys across a fantastic lunar landscape in a quest to save the world. Will these unlikely heroes save the moon in time? Can a toenail-clipping robot find its purpose in the vast universe? And will the First Cat in Space ever eat some pizza?
The First Rule of Punk
Anthony Owsley
There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school-you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malo (Maria Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk- be yourself.
The real Malo loves rock music, skateboarding, zines, and Soyrizo (hold the cilantro, please). And when she assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, Malo finally begins to feel at home. She’ll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself!
