Laugh-out-Loud Books

Our Laugh-out-Loud Books Collection highlights titles that bring levity to literature through satire, dark humor, or hilarious dialogue. Representing genres ranging from romantic comedies to classic children's titles, this Collection features titles to tickle every reader's funny bone.

Publication year 2016

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Relationships: Friendship, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth

Tags Humor, Fantasy, Animals, Children's Literature


Publication year 2020

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers

Tags Fantasy, Humor, Action / Adventure, Animals, Children's Literature


Publication year 2018

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Disability, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Relationships: Family

Tags Humor, Animals, Fantasy, Action / Adventure, Children's Literature


Publication year 2021

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Family

Tags Humor, Fantasy, Action / Adventure, Children's Literature, Animals


Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Gender, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery

Tags History: World, Historical Fiction, Romance, Humor, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Gender / Feminism, Relationships


Publication year 2009

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Friendship, Self Discovery

Tags Humor, Realistic Fiction

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renée Russell (Simon & Schuster, 2009) is a young adult graphic novel told in diary entries about a 14-year-old girl’s journey through her first month at a new school. The book was both a New York Times and USA Today best seller. It also won the Children’s Choice Book of the Year Award for the fifth/sixth grade division (2010) and was nominated for Book of the... Read Dork Diaries Summary


Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery

Tags Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction, Humor, Fantasy


Publication year 2016

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Fame, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Family

Tags Humor, Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction


Publication year 2002

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery

Tags Humor, Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

Double Fudge (2002) is the fifth and final book in the popular children’s series by bestselling American author Judy Blume. The Fudge series begins with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and includes Superfudge, Fudge-a-Mania, and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. The Fudge series was published across three decades and follows the lives of the Hatcher family, and most of the novels feature Peter Hatcher and his younger brother Fudge, who is always getting... Read Double Fudge Summary


Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Self Discovery, Identity: Femininity, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Emotions/Behavior: Love

Tags Depression / Suicide, Arts / Culture, Relationships, Love / Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction, Biography, Humor


Publication year 2012

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Tags Humor, Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Drama / Tragedy, Romance, LGBTQ

Drama is a young adult graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier published in 2012. It is Telgemeier’s third book and her first fiction graphic novel—her first two were autobiographical. Drama is critically acclaimed and spent 240 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. This guide refers to the 2012 edition by Scholastic/Graphix.Plot SummaryCallie Marin is a seventh-grader at Eucalyptus Middle School. She has long, purple-dyed hair and likes to wear the color green. She also... Read Drama Summary


Publication year 2004

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family

Tags Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction, Music, Humor

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (2014) is a young adult novel by American author Jordan Sonnenblick. Sonnenblick is a well-known young adult author whose novels include After Ever After, Falling Over Sideways, Notes From the Midnight Driver, and Zen and the Art of Faking It. The story follows Steven Alper, a 13-year-old drummer whose life is turned upside down when his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey, is diagnosed with leukemia. As Steven navigates the trials of early... Read Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie Summary


Publication year 2003

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Community, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Apathy, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance

Tags Humor, LGBTQ, Psychology, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Psychology, Mental Illness, Biography


Publication year 2014

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Identity: Gender, Relationships: Friendship, Identity: Disability

Tags Humor, Disability, Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction, Biography

El Deafo is a 2014 semi-autobiographical, graphic novel by American author and illustrator Cece Bell. Bell, who was born deaf, recounts her childhood in the format of a guide starring an anthropomorphic rabbit, “Cece.” The book endeavors to undermine negative representations of deafness by representing Cece’s difference as valid, even empowering, with the assistance of modern technology. Throughout the book, Cece occasionally assumes a superhero persona, “El Deafo.” El Deafo challenges common misconceptions about disabilities... Read El Deafo Summary


Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Society: Nation, Identity: Language

Tags Humor, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy

The entire story unravels on the island of Nollop, off the coast of North Carolina. Nollop is named after Nevin Nollop, a man who wrote a sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Because of his feat, Nollop’s statue is erected in town as a monument to the island’s namesake. Ella Minnow Pea, the main character, writes to her cousin, Tassie, announcing the first of... Read Ella Minnow Pea Summary


Publication year 1991

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Relationships: Teams

Tags Addiction / Substance Abuse, Relationships, Humor, Psychological Fiction, Satire, Education, Education

Denis Johnson originally published “Emergency” in the September 16, 1991 issue of New Yorker magazine and later as part of his critically acclaimed 1992 short story collection, Jesus’ Son. These linked, fragmentary stories, all narrated by the same troubled, drug-addicted character, examine themes of violence, addiction, loss, and friendship from an unreliable yet sympathetic narrative voice. This guide uses the 1992 version of Jesus’ Son published by Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.“Emergency,” the sixth story in... Read Emergency Summary


Publication year 1815

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage, Society: Class

Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Romanticism / Romantic Period, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Romance, Humor, Class, Gender / Feminism, History: European, Relationships, History: World

Emma is a fiction novel published in 1815 by the English author Jane Austen. The book centers on the character development of its eponymous protagonist, a genteel young woman on a country estate who meddles in the love lives of friends and neighbors. Jane Austen was conscious that Emma’s snobbery, vanity, and meddling might make her a “heroine whom no one but myself will much like” (Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. London:... Read Emma Summary


Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Fathers, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Society: Class

Tags American Literature, Humor, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction

In Empire Falls, published in 2001, award-winning author Richard Russo focuses his sharp observations on family, faith, and hope for the future in small-town America, where the factories have left, the populations are dwindling, and the prospects are shrinking. Miles Roby almost got out of Empire Falls, but his mother’s illness brought him back a semester shy of graduating college. Now he runs the Empire Grill, a landmark that still anchors the dying town, and... Read Empire Falls Summary


Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Literature, Identity: Language, Identity: Race

Tags Humor, Race / Racism, Arts / Culture, African American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 1990

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Life/Time: Aging

Tags Children's Literature, Fantasy, Humor, Animals, Romance, Classic Fiction