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I read over 350 picture books last year—a spectacular collection of informative, surprising, silly, moving, heartbreaking, profound, fun, and challenging works. I love a picture book that makes me cry or teaches me something new about the world, but what I love the most is a picture book that makes me laugh. I’m talking full-on, tears-streaming-down-my-face, my-dog-is-giving-me-a-funny-look, alone-in-my-house-and-struggling-to-breathe-a-little laughing. These books did not make me smile. They did not make me chuckle. I belly-laughed my way through these books. Laughter is medicine we all need right now. I hope you find some here.
Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty & David Roberts
You can’t see me, but I promise you I am chuckling right now, just thinking about this book. Glancing at the cover alone is enough to set me off. If this isn’t a modern masterpiece, I don’t know what it is. A family (headed by two truly impeccably stylish dads) is attempting to clean their house before Grandma visits, and…well, it’s a whole mess. There are rhymes. There is a very sly cat. There are a lot of pink pants. There is a dinosaur costume? Because why not!? It’s absolute, unfettered hilarity.
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100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli by David LaRochelle & Lian Cho
This is a hilarious counting book about…wait for it…a hundred mighty dragons all named broccoli! It’s such a great example of why I love picture books. Who comes up with an idea like this? All of these dragons named Broccoli do all sorts of things unrelated to their names, like start a heavy metal band or move to France or get turned into poodles by a wizard. And if it sounds like it doesn’t make any sense, I promise it doesn’t matter: I laughed my way through this whole absurd and delightful adventure and you will too.
The Book That Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed & Hatem Aly
Okay, so I have a weakness for really clever rhyming in picture books, and I have read a lot of picture books that are full of beautiful and funny rhymes, but never in my life have I encountered a book that utilizes rhyme to such a dramatic and hilarious effect as this one. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just say that this is a story about two siblings writing a story, and it is without a single flaw.
There’s No Such Thing as Vegetables by Kyle Lukoff & Andrea Tsurumi
The facial expressions of the vegetables on this cover give you some indication of how good this book is. Chester is tasked with what he thinks will be a simple job—go pick some vegetables for the garden for lunch—but when he gets there, he is suddenly surrounded by a crew of very loud, insistent, and opinionated “vegetables” explaining that they are not vegetables at all. He gets very confused very fast and it is so, so funny to watch. Bonus: Andrea Tsurumi also illustrated Mr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett Dapier, another A++ hilarious picture book.
Looking for more hilarity in picture book form? Check out this list of some of the best funny kids’ books and these funny picture books for kids.
