Literacy and Laughter: Picture Books That Give us the Giggles

It is no secret that in my family we LOVE the library and we absolutely adore family story time. Some of our favorite stories are where literacy and laughter come together. That’s why I wanted to share some of our favorite storytime picture books that give us a fit of the giggles. While we love the classic antics of Paddington Bear and the new classic Dragons Love Tacos, here are some less frequently mentioned books sure to tickle your kiddo’s funny bone!

1. Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton: This is a board book so you can start the literacy and laughter with even your youngest readers! We have great memories reading this to our oldest kid and hearing him crack up whenever we would say “OOOPS!” and now it is so much fun hearing him read it to his younger sisters and getting them to crack up every time.
2. Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie Depaola: This book has no words. It is all pictures and all about making pancakes and what to do about plans going awry. What’s fun about that is you can make this giggly book almost as long or short as you want. Sometimes we get really detailed describing things and other times we speed through the book, which has a humor of its own.
3. Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett: We love fairytales in our house, but we might love turning them on their heads or giving them a twist even more. This clever picture book is about a princess and a piglet getting switched at birth and has clever references to several classic fairytales while maintaining a very unique style.
4. This is a Serious Book by Jodie Parachini: We rented this kids book from the library ten times before gifting this to our kids for Christmas. Spoiler alert: my daughter’s favorite part of this book involves hearing me say “tooting.”
5. Goldilocks and Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems: You are probably familiar with Mo Willems from his books about The Pigeon or about Elephant and Piggie, but if you haven’t read his version of Goldilocks you are in for a treat. This one has us adults laughing right alongside the kids – the illustrations are filled with extra humor for older audiences!
6. Princess Cora and the Crocodile by Laura Amy Schlitz: This book is a bit longer, so save this literacy and laughter gem for your elementary readers or for younger kids with longer attention spans, but it is worth the length. The book is about a princess who wants to have an adventure and does it by replacing herself with a crocodile because she believes no one will notice the difference. (Bonus points if you can do a crocodile voice as funny as my husband’s- which, I won’t lie, will be pretty tough to beat.)

Do you have any books that make your kids laugh every time (and maybe you too, even on the 30th or 300th read?!) We’d love to hear about some new options to explore and we hope you enjoy these books as much as we do!