What are children looking for in a book? Well, if the Lollies book awards are to be believed, it’s a good laugh. The awards celebrate the funniest children’s books around - and our intrepid band of class book reviewers looked at the Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds and Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds. So, what did the children at King’s Hall School in Taunton, Somerset, choose as their top reads?

Shortlist: age range 6-8

CLASS FAVOURITE

There’s a Werewolf in my Tent

By Pamela Butchart (illustrated by Thomas Flintham)

As a huge fan of Pamela Butchart’s Izzy series, I was excited to dive into this one and it certainly did not disappoint. I found myself being transported on a distinctly eventful school camping trip where things swiftly take a rather spooky turn. I particularly enjoyed Jodi’s Bear Grylls-style extreme survival skills and hooted with laughter at the mysterious happenings involving Miss Moon, the suspiciously hairy new teacher. Another fabulously fast-moving and perfectly pitched adventure from this winning author/illustrator team.

Emily Marcuccilli, librarian, King’s Hall School

This book was super-exciting. I liked the bit when they did the scavenger hunt near the River Gary and the bit when they thought Miss Moon was a werewolf.

Jamie

I liked this book because it had lots of expression and I loved the drawings. My favourite character is Jodi and my least favourite is Miss Moon. They should have known that werewolves do not exist, but otherwise the book was great.

Harry

A good book to read which was particularly funny because you could imagine the characters of the children and teachers to be in your own classroom.

Theo

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it gripped me from the start! It was funny and easy to read with good illustrations by Thomas Flintham. I would definitely recommend it.

Archie

The Big, Fat, Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig

By Emer Stamp

Who could not fail to love Pig with his joyfully incorrect grammar (“Me I is pig”), his special talent for playing Name That Fart and his eclectic bunch of friends: Ki-Ki the turkey, Duck and my favourite, Rusty the dog, who arrives on the scene to save Pig from the clutches of Defra (Deathra in the story) and who speaks like a character from an American war movie: “Today’s a day to bust this joint. You with me?” Yes, it’s ridiculous; yes, there is a great deal of farting and a whole lot of deliberately dodgy grammar, but I challenge you to keep a straight face while reading this one!

Emily Marcuccilli

I found this book very exciting. I liked the characters because they were like superheroes. I also liked the part when Rusty the dog saves the day. The language was very funny and I liked the idea of it being written as a diary.

Jamie

I did not like this book but I did like the drawings. I did not like the spelling mistakes though.

Harry

Barry Loser and the Birthday Billions

By Jim Smith

Barry’s birthday is doomed when his little brother wees into Barry’s brand new Shnozinator 9000 gaming helmet so he and his friends set about trying to invent new gadgets in order to buy a replacement. Needless to say, things do not go smoothly for Barry and co. I enjoyed this story more than I expected. Barry’s hapless quest for “keelness” (coolness) and his attempts to follow in the footsteps of famous young inventor, Wolf Tizzler are lots of fun and will certainly appeal to fans of Tom Gates and Mr Gum books.

Emily Marcuccilli

I thought the book was very funny, exciting and gripping. It kept me wanting to read more. I liked Barry and his friends’ idea of inventing a new phone app to answer boring questions. I also enjoyed imagining Bunky’s silly voices for the app. I felt sad when Barry and Bunky fell out but it was good that they made up by the end of the book.

Jamie

I liked this book; it was funny and odd! I also liked the way the word “keel” stands for cool. I think this book would appeal to children who like Tom Gates and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Harry

Barry and friends try to invent a money-making phone app so they can buy the latest toy. The funny pictures with big noses bring the characters to life.

Theo

The Pudding Problem

By Joe Berger

Sam Lyttle just can’t help telling fibs. While most of his tall tales seem fairly harmless, one day he tells a lie that makes him fall foul of school bully, Feeny, and his problems go from bad to worse... Untangling a web of lies is certainly a tricky job. I loved this story from the very first page, in particular its cast of delightfully quirky characters, from jazz-guitar loving Dad and homework advocate Mum to the sinister secateurs-wielding headmaster. Text and illustration work perfectly together to draw the reader into the adventure, with a great many laughs along the way. There is even a lie detector at the end of the story!

Emily Marcuccilli

I thought the book had a good message behind it that it is always better to tell the truth. The main character Sam does lie but we know he is good because he wants to rescue and look after the cat he calls Pudding. I liked the part when the bully Feeny throws up on the headteacher! I thought that part was really funny. Feeny got what he deserved.

Jamie

I also liked the way the author made each chapter a lie that Sam Lyttle told. I liked the illustrations and the comic style of the book. I did not like the small “writing” on page 168 because I couldn’t read what it said and I wanted to know what was going on!

Harry

Shortlist: age range 9-13

CLASS FAVOURITE

Tom Gates Epic Adventure

By Liz Pichon

The arrival of a new Tom Gates story in our school library is always cause for celebration. Here Liz Pichon returns with a delightful feast of doodle-tastic fun which has proved enormously popular with our pupils. Tom’s grandparents, The Wrinklies, have returned from their globetrotting travels with a keen interest in yoga, a vuvuzela for Tom and are making plans for a big family day out. The trip sounds like fun, but Tom is anxious to get back in time for the tropical disco. What could possibly go wrong? There are laughs aplenty with this story, and I particularly enjoyed the links to additional content at the back of the book.

Emily Marcuccilli

“Epic is truly epic! If I could have one thing of Tom’s from Epic, it would definitely be his awesome watch. Not only does it tell the time, but it moos! I also like the fact that Tom is terrible at spelling, just like me.”

Ella

“My favourite bit was where the cousins stole the giant fish cookies because Tom had to help his dad.”

Danielle

“As you will know, Tom Gates books are always funny. This one was another fun book.”

Patrick

“I thought that this was the best Tom Gates book ever. Most of the pages made me laugh.”

Eddie

“I would definitely read this again. My favourite part was when they have a competition to see who is the loudest with the trumpet!”

Riana

Football School Season 2: Where Football Explains the World

By Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton

As a non-fiction title, this is an interesting addition to the shortlist and one that I am sure will appeal to young football fans. Here, the authors are our “coaches” and the table of contents has become a school timetable, where “every lesson is about football”. The authors present us with a feast of fascinating footie facts, from the physics of a football’s shape to the techniques and styles employed by sports journalists in their reports. There is trivia galore, along with generous quantities of jokes and puns. While not exactly “laugh out loud”, there is certainly enough humour to grab a young reader’s attention.

Emily Marcuccilli

I thought I would find this book so boring, but I did not! Instead, I found out lots of interesting facts about football, such as you can sweat up to six litres in a hot game. The authors have designed the book around a normal school timetable, with a chapter for each subject. In physics, for example, we learn the different ways to build a football. And in history, we learn that women weren’t allowed to play football at all until quite recently.

Ella

I found this book really funny because every lesson was football! My favourite bit was the part where the man looked in the mirror and said “I love you” in a different language.

Danielle

I thought this book was interesting because of the illustrations: they are funny and it wasn’t just about football. It suited me because I didn’t need to focus on one subject matter for too long. I give this 8/10!

Patrick

I especially liked the after school club pages, because it shows what to do in life. There are also some recipes for smoothies, which I will try out. I would recommend this book to football fans and non-football fans.

Eddie

This book tells you a lot of facts about football and how it is related to science and other subjects. I think it falls into comedy. It is a good book, but just not for me.

Riana

Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure

By A L Kennedy (illustrated by Gemma Correll)

This is a wonderfully anarchic adventure that reminded me of elements of the Mr Gum series by Andy Stanton, along with touches of Dahl’s The Twits and The BFG. Poor Badger Bill has found himself in a sticky situation, locked up by a sinister pair of sisters who plan to make him fight Ripper the dog and his canine sidekicks. Meanwhile, a group of llamas is facing the prospect of being turned into luxury handbags by the spiteful McGloone family. But all is not lost, for Uncle Shawn is on his way and he is determined to help. I loved the author’s quirky use of language and description which works to great effect alongside the delightfully simple and labelled illustrations.

Emily Marcuccilli

This was my favourite of all the Lollies entries. I just loved this book! It has comedy, wit, adventure and sadness. Gemma Correll illustrates the book and brings the llamas and other animal characters to life with her many funny drawings. I couldn’t recommend this book more.

Ella

I found this book really fun to read because the badger does human things like eat biscuits and drink tea. My favourite bit in this book was the part where he had to fight against three nasty dogs.

Danielle

I can only review half of this book because it was hard for me to read. I found it mostly boring but some parts were funny, like the McGloone’s luxury llama products such as llama stew, llama keyrings and llama handbags, but mostly this was not my sense of humour or to my taste.

Patrick

I thought that this book was very funny. The idea of turning llamas into llama pies was disgusting but made me laugh. They definitely wouldn’t taste good!

Eddie

My favourite part was when Uncle Shawn saw the McGloone kids throwing rocks at the cat and persuaded them to stop. It shows he can solve any problem.

Riana

My Mum’s Growing Down

By Laura Dockrill (illustrated by David Tazzyman)

I absolutely loved reading this collection of poems. From the animal print endpapers and pink sprayed edges, to the yoga posing mum on the cover, I was hooked from the moment I held this book in my hands. My Mum’s Growing Down is also the name of the opening poem and I challenge any reader to keep a straight face while reading about mum’s juvenile exploits that include pouring custard on her dress, shoving beans up her nose and drawing on a moustache to pretend to be dad. Her poor son is helpless as throughout the collection she complains in restaurants, shows him up at parents’ meetings and does some spectacular retching. I laughed myself silly. Yet the comic moments are balanced with some moments of real tenderness where we see the mum’s deep love for her son, and for me this is what makes the collection all the more special. I enjoyed this book so much that I have just given a copy of this book to a friend as a birthday present. She is 46!

Emily Marcuccilli

This extremely comical collection of poems about embarrassing mums by the amazing Laura Dockrill makes me want to laugh out loud. I am sure everybody will love this book because we have all been publicly embarrassed by our mums! My favourite poem is My Mum Pretends to Know Absolutely Loads About Football. It had me laughing when the mother calls the referee a teacher and the free kick a lucky chance.

Ella

My favourite poem in this book was My Mum Has Hair On Her Head And This Is What It’s Like! I especially loved the picture of the bagel in his mum’s hair.

Danielle

This book made me laugh because it reminded me of me and my mum. Even the illustration looked a bit like me…The poetry made it easier for me to read. I would highly recommend it.

Patrick

I liked this book because it reminded me of my mum and me. One of my favourite poems was My Mum Wants To Go To The Movies AGAIN! Hooray. Oh, Great. (in a really sarcastic voice). I would highly recommend this book to my family to read.

Eddie

The poems explain how the mum doesn’t act her age and behaves like a kid, for example drawing a moustache on with a marker and just acting ridiculously everywhere she goes! My favourite is the one poem where she pretends to “be dad” because I think it is really funny and I also loved the two sarcastic poems about going to the movies.

Riana

Voting for the Lollies is open to teachers and their pupils, parents and children until 14 December 2018. For more information, and to cast your vote, go to www.scholastic.co.uk/lollies

If you or your class would like to write a review, please contact sarah.cunnane@tes.com

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