FUNNY School-related picture books

My family has recently completed a BIG move so my husband could return to teaching. Our new beginning (and the need for humor in the moving mishaps and pain) made me think about the new beginnings so many kids and families experience this time of year. As a librarian who often read aloud to classes of elementary students, I have a few favorite school-related picture books that are almost guaranteed to get a laugh out of your student, at a stressful time when we could use some laughs.

Check these out:
Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard - check out the post here for the scoop on this one!


Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch is a seemingly predictable tale with a great surprise ending - it sounds like a girl-ish book, but the humor will appeal to boys too. Find some more info about this great author here.


Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester reminds kids in a humorous way that sometimes losers win, when poor Wodney Wat (it's Rodney Rat, but his speech impediment prevents him from even saying his own name correctly) uses his smarts to beat the class bully.


Bedhead by Margie Palatini was my go-to readaloud for older elementary students. This story of a kid having a truly awful hair day is so funny, especially if you can do voices for the different characters.


And finally, older elementary students will also love Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley, Carol Heyer and Scott Goto. A boy and a girl are given an assignment to write a fairy tale together, and they have very different ideas about how the story should go. This book is especially appealing to reluctant reader boys since it has a motorcycle on the cover and the word "dude" in the title. Great fun and great for sparking discussions about fairy tales, fractured fairy tales, gender differences, artistic styles, and so much more. Find related activities here, here, and here.