I received this lovely stack of notes in June from a first-grade class thanking me for reading to them all year.
What surprised me when I read them one more time was the repetitive appreciation for funny books. One student even asked if I could please read The Book with No Pictures again, which was the first book I read to them in September.
I read many books to them last year: books that taught them new words, books that highlighted desirable character traits, books that took us to faraway places. So it is interesting that the ones they mentioned loving the most were the ones that made us laugh.
If we are committed to fostering a lifelong love of reading, this may be one of the secrets. Books we share that amuse and delight are a fast pass to making this tremendously complicated skill desirable and enjoyable.
The first day of school is filled with expectations, rules, and procedures. It’s all necessary, but we can probably agree it isn’t very fun. So, I am going to challenge us to bring some levity into the first week of school by sharing books that tickle our funny bones.
If no hilarious titles come to mind for you, here are a few of my recommendations. Check them out from the library, because they will be perfect only if you think they are funny, too.
For grades K–2:
• The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak
• Can I Play Too? (Elephant and Piggie) by Mo Willems
• Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman
• Boot & Shoe by Marla Frazee
• Ragweed’s Farm Dog Handbook by Anne Vittur Kennedy
• It’s Not Hansel and Gretel by Josh Funk
• Sweety by Andrea Zuill
• The Perfect Percival Priggs by Julie-Anne Graham
• Lou by Breanna Carzoo
• I’m Sad by Michael Ian Black
For grades 3–5:
• Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown
• Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley
• An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
• The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer
• EngiNerds by Jarrett Lerner
• Almost Super by Marion Jensen
• The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
If you read some of these the first weeks of school, it won’t surprise me a bit if your students enjoy, reread, and still remember them on the last day.
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