I am so delighted to share a guest blog from author, Anna Kemp about her top five funny picture books! Check out her recommendations below.
‘Is it funny?’ That was the main question I asked myself when writing my new Dogs Don’t Do Ballet story, The Muttcracker. In fact, this is always the question I ask of my writing. ‘Will it make kids laugh?’ and ‘Will it make their grown-ups giggle, too?’ Almost all my favourite books (for children and adults) have a sense of humour. They might deal with big feelings or important subjects, but they always see the funny side. There are loads of picture books out there to tickle our funny bones. Here are some of my favourites:
Five Minutes’ Peace, Jill Murphy
That’s all Mrs Large wants. Just five minutes. Five blissful, child-free minutes to have a nice hot bath and eat a cupcake. Is that too much to ask? Of course it is. Full of the warmth of everyday family life, Jill Murphy’s wonderful elephant family makes children giggle and offers an understanding hug to their exhausted grown-ups.
The Enormous Crocodile, Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake
I read this over and over as a child, completely exhilarated by Roald Dahl’s trademark mix of terror and glee. Oh, the chills when the kids run towards the croc disguised as a picnic bench! Oh, the shivers when croccy snaps the tail feathers off the Roly-Poly bird! And oh, the wicked delight when Trunky the elephant flings the horrid reptile into the sun where he sizzles up like a sausage! Children are always being told to be good, but Dahl lets them be a little bit bad. Such fun!
The Paper Bag Princess, Robert Munsch & Michael Martchenko
When Princess Elizabeth’s betrothed gets kidnapped by a hungry dragon, it falls to her to rescue him. Using her wit and wiles, she soon outsmarts the monster, but it turns out Prince Ronald wasn’t really worth the effort. When he tells her off for her grubby appearance, she rightly concludes that he’s ‘a bum’ and races into the sunset on her own. Solid feminist politics. Guaranteed hilarity. Perfection!
Oi Frog!, Kes Gray & Jim Field
I love a feminist fairytale, but picture books don’t need a message to be brilliant. What’s wrong with simply making children shriek with laughter? Oi Frog! (and its many sequels) does just that. Do elephants sit on smelly pants? Of course they do! These books had my little boy in stitches. No takeaway message, nothing to learn here, just laffs, laffs, laffs!
My Big Shouting Day!, Rebecca Patterson
A book for the grown-ups perhaps, but I adore this hilarious take on toddler tantrums. Poor Bella is having a bad day and her bewildered mum has to endure not only her daughter’s terrible temper but the glares of disapproving adults. Parents will relate to the long-suffering mum but also to little Bella, whose fury is wonderfully cathartic. Don’t we all have days when we wish we could fling ourselves on the carpet and drum our fists in rage?
So, do yourself and your little ones a favour and pick those rib-ticklers from the shelves. After all – as Roald Dahl’s Matilda famously tells us – ‘children are not so serious as grown-ups, and they love to laugh.’
My Shelves Are Full 