What’s so Funny? Grades 5-6

Fiction

Donnelly, Rebecca. How to Stage a Catastrophe.Seventh-grader Sidney Camazzola plans to be the director of the Juicebox Theater one day, but for now, he has a great idea–extortion–for keeping the theater open.

Korman, Gordon. The Chicken Doesn’t Skate. Wild things happen at the South Middle School when Milo’s science project, Henrietta the chicken, becomes the hockey team’s mascot and their only chance for a winning season.

Kootstra, Kara. Jay Versus the Saxaphone of Doom.Sixth-grader Jay loves hockey and deals with the difficulties of playing with a bullying classmate, but he is unprepared for learning how to play the saxophone.

Kowitt, Holly. The Principal’s Underwear is Missing. Becca, a sixth-grade nobody, and Selfie, the eighth-grade glamour queen, must team up to stop the disaster of a lifetime.

McGeddon, R. Disaster Diaries. (Series) When their eccentric science teacher’s zany experiment goes awry, Sam, Arty and Emmie are challenged to combine their unique skills to save the community of Sitting Duck from a zombie apocalypse.

Patterson, James. I Funny. (Series) Resolving to become the world’s greatest stand-up comedian despite less-than-funny challenges in his life, wheelchair-bound middle school student Jamie Grimm endures bullying from his mean-spirited cousin and hopes he will be fairly judged when he entersa local comedy contest.

Patterson, James.  Middle School. (Series)When Rafe Khatchadorian enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, “Leo the Silent,” to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school’s code of conduct.

Pinkwater, Daniel Manus. Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story.Upon moving to Hoboken, New Jersey, a boy convinces his two new friends to help him track down the mysterious phantom who stole his bicycle, as well as Arthur Bobowicz, owner of a giant chicken that once terrorized local citizens.

Raschka, Christopher. The Doorman’s Repose.Some of us look up at those craggy, mysterious apartment buildings found in the posher parts of New York City and wonder what goes on inside. The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories of the doings of 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest.

Sanderson, Brendon. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. (Series)On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to save civilization.

Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events. (Series)After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.

Swallow, Gerry. Magnificent Tales of Misadventure. (Series) When ill-mannered, eleven-year-old Elspeth Pule awakens in a strange forest where nursery rhyme character dwell, she must both learn compassion and teach the merits of a good temper tantrum in order to return home.

Tobin, Paul. Genius Factor. (Series)Socially awkward fifth-grade genius Nate Bannister recruits his classmate Delphine to help him reverse one of his many experiments (a dinosaur-sized, invisible cat) while foiling the schemes of the world’s most dastardly organization, the Red Death Tea Society.

Non-Fiction

A large selection of joke and riddle books can be found in Juvenile Non-Fiction section 793.735.