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Funny Books for Middle Grade and YA Readers

Some of these books have great one-liners, some are filled with sarcasm, but some are just silly. Get ready to LOL!

In this booklist:

Middle Grade Titles

Cover of Anybody Here Seen Frenchie
Leslie
Connor

When her best friend Frenchie, who is autistic and doesn't talk, disappears after they encounter a rare piebald deer in the woods, Aurora feels that she's to blame and does everything she can to find him.

Cover of Confessions of a Class Clo
Arianne
Costner

Jack Reynolds loves making people laugh but he needs help to make his wacky MyTube channel take off, and making friends is not exactly his strong suit.

Cover of Marcus Makes a Movie
Kevin Hart with
Geoff Rodkey
David Cooper

This is an illustrated middle-grade novel about a boy who has big dreams of making a blockbuster superhero film.

Cover of The Many Mysteries of the
Sarah
Kapit

Two sisters on the autism spectrum find their partnership in a junior detective agency challenged by a mystery involving boundary issues, a new friend’s texts and their father’s burned Shabbat brisket.

Cover of Emmie & Friends (graphic n
Terri
Libenson

The lives of middle schoolers  are explored humorously in this realistic series featuring relatable issues and characters. Each volume features a mixture of storytelling formats to tell each character's side of the story - sometimes using comics, and other times a mixture of illustrations and prose. Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale.

Cover of Merci Suárez Can’t Danc
Meg
Medina

Merci Suárez embarks on a seventh grade year shaped by high teacher expectations, a crush on a school-store co-worker and a bossy classmate's plan for the annual Heart Ball.

Cover of Tower of Time (Max & the M
Lincoln
Peirce

Max's twin is public enemy number one, and it is up to the Midknights to avoid looming dangers like trolls and pirates to find her before time runs out.

Cover of Stuntboy, in the Meantime
Jason
Reynolds
Raúl the Third

Portico Reeves' secret identity as Stuntboy allows him to use his superpower to keep everybody safe, but when his  parents start fighting a lot he feels the responsibility to save them.

Cover of The Ice Cream Machine
Adam
Rubin

This is a collection of six totally different stories with the same exact name. Each story features black-and-white interior illustrations from a different artist.

Cover of The Genius Under the Table
Eugene
Yelchin

In the tiny apartment he shares with his Baryshnikov-obsessed mother, poetry-loving father, continually outraged grandmother, and safely talented brother, all Yevgeny has is his little pencil, the underside of a massive table, and the doodles that could change everything. With equal amounts charm and solemnity, award-winning author and artist Eugene Yelchin recounts in hilarious detail his childhood in Cold War Russia as a young boy desperate to understand his place in his family.

YA Titles

Cover of Lifetime Passes
Terry
Blas
Claudia Aguirre

In this darkly comedic YA graphic novel, a group of teens starts a program to bring senior citizens to a local theme park to take advantage of the unofficial park policy: If someone dies on the property, the rest of their party is given lifetime passes.

Cover of Love is for Losers
Wibke
Brueggemann

Fifteen-year-old Phoebe thinks falling in love is vile and degrading, and vows never to do it. Then, due to circumstances not entirely in her control, she finds herself volunteering at a local thrift shop. There she meets Emma, who might unwittingly upend her whole theory on life.

Cover of One True Loves
Elise
Bryant

While on a post-graduation Mediterranean cruise with her family, Lenore Bennett meets a hopeless romantic with a ten-year plan who helps her find something she's been looking for--love.

Cover of This Will Be Funny Someday
Katie
Henry

Sixteen-year-old Izzy mistakenly walks into a stand-up comedy club and performs and the experience is surprisingly cathartic. She joins a group of college students and is introduced to the Chicago open mic scene. Izzy must choose to either hide what she really wants and who she really is, or finally, truly stand up for herself.

Cover of The Extraordinaries
Tj
Klune

After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City's mightiest hero (and Nick's biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he'll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick's best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Cover of Sway With Me
Syed M.
Masood

Arsalan Nizami has learned all he knows from his 100-year-old great-grandfather, but when Beenish Siraj asks him to be her partner in a dance she's been forbidden to perform at her sister's wedding, Arsalan's world opens up in more ways than he could have imagined.

Cover of Rainbow in the Dark
Sean
McGinty

High school senior Rainbow is trapped with three other teens in a game-like world that may or may not be real. Together, they must complete quests and gain experience in order to access their own forgotten memories, decode what has happened to them, and find a portal home. The surreal, absurdist humor balances sensitively handled themes of suicide, depression, and the search for identity in an unpredictable and ultimately hopeful page-turner.

Cover of Sunny Song Will Never Be F
Suzanne
Park

Social media influencer Sunny is shipped off to a digital detox camp in this hilarious, charming romantic comedy.

Cover of Charming as a Verb
Ben
Phillippe

Henri 'Halti' Haltiwanger is a star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University. When classmate and neighbor, Corinne, uncovers Henri's less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school.

Cover of Better Together
Christine
Riccio

Jamie's an aspiring stand-up comic in Los Angeles with a growing case of stage anxiety. Siri's a stunning ballerina from New Jersey dealing with a career-changing injury. When the two girls meet at a retreat in Colorado, they discover they are sisters separated as young children by their bitterly divorced parents.