8 funny books for girls (6-12)


Master 9 and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the third instalment in The Mapmaker Chronicles trilogy. It is a fabulous adventure trilogy written by Australian author A.L Tait. Aimed at children 10+ the books really captured the imagination of our son and I loved reading them with him. With Christmas creeping up, books always make a fabulous gift and I can highly recommend The Mapmaker Chronicles. You can read an extract from the first book here.

And why am I telling you all this?? Because the trilogy author Allison Tait has very kindly put together a great list of books for me to share with you! As Allison explains below, books can be read by any gender, but some girls and boys can tend to have distinct preferences for the genres of books they like to read, so lists like this can be incredibly helpful when looking for books for your child.

Keep reading to the end also for a chance to win a copy of the third book in the trilogy Breath Of The Dragon!

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When we think of funny books for kids, it’s often books aimed at boys that come to mind – books full of slackers and naughty boys, liberal use of fart, bum and poo jokes, and cute little drawings. Kid humour as exemplified by books such as the mighty Treehouse series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, Eric Vale: Epic Fail by Michael Gerard-Bauer, Weir-Doh by Anh Do, and the darkly funny stories of David Walliams.

Funny books for girls, however, don’t come to mind as easily. Part of this is because girls love all of those ‘boy’ books too (research suggests that girls are happy to read pretty much anything, while boys will balk if there’s so much as a hint of ‘girl’ between the covers… though I haven’t actually seen this in practice at my house). Besides, as we’ve discussed before here, a lot of the best books for boys contain excellent girl characters (hello Jill from the Treehouse series).

But girls like humour too, and there are some fabulous books around that cater to that. Some are laugh out loud silly, some contain more gentle, situational humour, and some are full of those clever one-liners that we all wish we could think of under pressure.

I’ve put together a list of favourites*, both new and old, for girls aged 6-12.

Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator (Mo Willems) (6-8): Willems combines words and pictures perfectly to create a quirky little book that parents and kids can read together – or that new readers will love reading alone.

The Ramona series (Beverly Cleary) (6+): this series begins with Ramona The Pest, chronicling Ramona’s first year at school and has been a favourite since it was first published in 1968.

Judy Moody (Megan McDonald) (6-9): a series following the adventures of a third-grade girl.

Clarice Bean (Lauren Child) (7+): perfectly pitched at newly independent readers, this series from the creator of Charlie & Lola is sweet, funny and a little bit odd.

Matilda (Roald Dahl) (7+): now a successful musical, but this book has been a favourite since it was first published in 1988. Combines laugh out loud humour and dark drama as only Dahl does.

Coco Banjo (Nikki Gemmell) (7+): this graphic-novel-style series depicts the life of Coco Banjo, a ‘plucky, kind-hearted, funny’ girl who lives on a secret island (by herself) and goes to a typical Aussie school.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) (9+): a darkly humorous adventure/mystery series.

Are you there God, it’s me Margaret? (Judy Blume) (10+): Margaret deals with the big issues of a sixth-grade girl – boys, bras, bodies – with gentle humour

Of course, lots of books for girls include gentle humour – it’s not necessarily the ‘focus’ but it’s always there, bubbling away in the background, creating a lively, pacey ‘voice’ that girls (and boys) love. In this category, I’d put series such as Violet Mackerel by Anna Branford, Juliet The Vet by Rebecca Johnson, Clementine Rose by Jacqueline Harvey, and Truly Tan by Jen Storer.

Do your girls like funny books? Which are their favourites?

Allison Tait is the author of The Mapmaker Chronicles , a trilogy about a race to map the world, full of adventure, excitement and, you guessed it, gentle humour. Book three, Breath Of The Dragon, is on sale now! Allison would like to thank Megan from Children’s Books Daily for input into this list.

Win a copy of The Mapmaker Chronicles – Breath Of The Dragon

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This giveaway has now closed. Congratulations to Theresa who said “”My avid reader son aged 9 has so many joke books I have never known a child to read and read and memorise jokes – since he was 5! When everyone is sick of hearing them, he still reads them and laughs aloud to himself. 1001 cool jokes with glen singleton”” is the best joke book!”
Thanks to Allison, I have one copy of The Mapmaker Chronicles – Breath Of The Dragon to giveaway to a reader of Planning With Kids. To enter please complete the form below sharing a current favourite funny children’s book at your house!

Terms and conditions

  • To enter you must complete the form below. Upon entering the competition you will be signed up to The Mapmaker Chronicles newsletter. If you are reading via email, please click here to enter if you cannot see the form.
  • The giveaway is open to Australian residents only.
  • The winner will be notified via email. You must have a valid email address to enter. If no response is received with 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.
  • The give away will close Tues 20th October 2015.
  • The winner will be chosen by Planning With Kids based on creativity and you can only enter once.
  • Please see full terms and conditions here.

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