Books to Make You Smile
Humor for Third and Fourth Graders

FICTION AHLBERG, A.	The Cat That Got Carried Away by Allan Ahlberg. It was an exciting couple of days for the Gaskitt family and their community, with missing pets, an unusual substitute teacher, and a special addition to their household.
FICTION AMATO, M.	Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: the Riot Brothers Tell All by Mary Amato. The Riot brothers capture a crook. The Riot brothers find a hidden treasure. The Riot brothers overthrow a king.
FICTION BENTON, J.	Lunch Walks Among Us by Jim Benton. Franny K. Stein is a mad scientist who prefers all things spooky and creepy, but when she has trouble making friends at her new school, she experiments with fitting in which works until a monster erupts from the trashcan.
FICTION BLUME, J.	Double Fudge by Judy Blume. His younger brother's obsession with money and the discovery of long-lost cousins Flora and Fauna provide many embarrassing moments for twelve-year-old Peter.
FICTION CASELEY, J.	Minnie and Moo and the Seven Wonders by Denys Cazet. Two cows try to save their farm by creating seven wonders and asking the other animals for donations to see them, but there is a wondrous and frightening creature in the woods that could foil the plan.
FICTION CHILD, L.	Utterly Me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child. When someone steals the winner’s trophy for the school book project, Clarice emulates her favorite book heroine, Ruby Redfort the detective.
FICTION COMAN, C.	The Big House by Carolyn Coman. When Ivy and Ray’s parents are sent to jail, and they are left in the custody of their parent’s accusers, they decide to look for evidence that will “spring” their parents.
FICTION COWELL, C.	How To Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell. Follows the further adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third as his Viking training continues and his father leads a stranger and the Hairy Hooligans to the Isle of Skullions in search of a pirate’s treasure.
FICTION DAVID, L.	The Terror of the Pink Dodo Balloons by Lawrence David. Little Horace Splattly, alias the Cupcaked Crusader, hopes to become Celernip Prince at the Celernip Festival, keep his best friends, win the love of Sara Willow, cope with his talented scientist sister, and figure out who is creating the pink dodo balloons that are making people bald.
FICTION DYER, H.	The Fish in Room 11 by Heather Dyer. Toby lives in a hotel by the sea. When his friendship with Eliza and her mermaid parents arouses suspicion, he tries to disguise the mermaids as guests. Trying to hide a family with fins and tails is tougher than Toby thinks.
FICTION FINNEY, P.	I, Jack by Jack the dog as told to Patricia Finney. Jack, a Labrador Retriever, tells about his daily life of food, walks, and the “apedogs” and “funny-looking dogs” (cats) in his pack, as well as how everything changes when a pretty girl dog moves into the neighborhood. Includes explanatory footnotes written by the cats.
FICTION GREENWALD, S.	Rosy Cole: She Walks in Beauty by Sheila Greenwald. Rosy finds out how difficult it is to become one of the beautiful people.
FICTION HADDIX, M.	Say What? by Margaret Peterson Haddix. When their parents begin saying the wrong thing every time six-year-old Sukey and her older brothers misbehave, the children discover that it is a plot and fight back with their own wrong phrases.
FICTION HICKS, B.	Busted! by Betty Hicks. Anxious to distract his “overly” strict mother, twelve-year-old Stuart and his best friend, a girl named Mack, are determined to fix her up with Mack’s Uncle Joe.
MYSTERY HOLM	To Scratch a Thief by Holm & Hamel. An enemy from Mr. Stink’s past is targeting his new suburban family, and the international cat of mystery must discover the identity of his nemesis and defeat him.
FICTION HORNIK, L.	Zoo School by Laurie Miller Hornik. The students at the strange new Zoo School have never seen a school like it before, but when inspectors try to close it down because of irregularities, the students are surprised to find out how much they have learned.
FICTION KELLY, J.	The Mystery of Eatum Hall by John Kelly. Mr. and Mrs. Pork-Fowler are invited to spend a weekend of gourmet dining at a spooky castle where their host, Mr. Hunter, is anxious to “meat” them.
FICTION KURZWEIL, A.	Leon and the Spitting Image by Allen Kurzweil. Leon, a fourth grader at the Ethical school, tries to outwit the school bully and learn to sew for fanatical teacher Miss Cronheim, with unexpected help from his final project, a doll with magical powers.
FICTION LANTZ F.	The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy by Francess Lantz. Tired of gender stereotyping at home, in the classroom, and especially on the football field, ten-year-old Joanie pretends to be a boy when her family moves to a new town, but soon finds there are unexpected consequences.
FICTION LEVY, E.	Wolfman Sam by Elizabeth Levy. When Sam becomes "Wolfman Sam" as a disc jockey for the school radio station, his brother Robert tricks him into thinking he really may be a werewolf.
FICTION LOWRY, L.	Zooman Sam by Lois Lowry. Four-year-old Sam's appearance as a zookeeper at his nursery school's Future Job Day leads him to a number of exciting activities and discoveries including reading.
FICTION MAGUIRE, G.	One Final Firecracker by Gregory Maguire. A giant spider and several other odd creatures from the earlier books in the Hamlet Chronicles return as the small Vermont town celebrates a grammar school graduation, Miss Earth’s wedding, and the Fourth of July.
FICTION MCDONALD, M.	Judy Moody Declares Independence by Megan McDonald. After learning about the American Revolution on a family trip to Boston, Massachusetts, Judy Moody makes her own Declaration of Independence and tries to prove that she is responsible enough to have more freedoms, such as a higher allowance and her own bathroom.
FICTION NAYLOR, P.	Girls Rule! by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. The Malloy girls and the Hatford boys try to outdo each other in a quest to earn money and choose how to participate in the annual Buckman, West Virginia, Strawberry Festival.
FICTION PEAKE, M.	Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn Peake. On a fantastic island populated by unusual animals, a pirate captain finds a trustworthy companion in the little "Yellow Creature."
FICTION PINKWATER, D.	The Artsy Smartsy Club by Daniel Pinkwater. After three Hoboken children and their giant chicken Henrietta begin to appreciate beautiful sidewalk art, they venture into art class and visits to Manhattan.
FICTION PINKWATER, D.	The Picture of Morty & Ray by Daniel Pinkwater. Inspired by a movie plot, Morty and Ray paint pictures of each other and then do mean things at school to see if their portraits will become ugly.
FICTION PROIMOS, J.	Mutton Soup: More Adventures of Johnny Mutton by James Proimos. Presents more humorous stories about Johnny Mutton, the young sheep raised as a regular boy.
FICTION PRYOR, B.	Toenails, Tonsils, and Tornadoes by Bonnie Pryor. Martin weathers the fourth grade while suffering through the prolonged visit of a difficult aunt and enduring the trials of a classic "middle child".
FICTION RICHLER, M.	Jacob Two-Two’s First Spy Case by Mordecai Richler. Eight-year-old Jacob Two-Two enlists the aid of his new neighbor, master spy X Barnaby Dinglebat, when I.M. Greedyguts, the new headmaster at his school, makes the lives of the students miserable.
FICTION SCIESZKA, J.	Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka. While looking for his friend Art, a boy wanders through the Museum of Modern Art and is amazed by what he discovers there.
FICTION SMALLCOMB, P.	The Last Burp of Mac McGerp by Pam Smallcomb. Mac McGerp, winner of the Best Burper first prize at the Tri-county Fair, and his good friend, Lido, try to figure out how to deal with the new repressive school principal.
FICTION SMITH, A.	Turkey Monster Thanksgiving by Anne Warren Smith. When her perfectionist classmate and neighbor plan an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner, Katie begins to wonder if the relaxed day she, her father, and her messy little brother usually enjoy means they are not a “real” family.
FICTION SPINELLI, J.	Tooter Pepperday by Jerry Spinelli. Hating to leave her familiar surroundings, Tooter resorts to sabotage when her family moves from their suburban home to Aunt Sally's farm.
FICTION WEISS, E.	Elf: a Junior Novel by Ellen Weiss. One Christmas Eve, a baby named Buddy crawls into Santa’s bag and is mistakenly taken back to the North Pole, where he is raised by elves.
FICTION WINKLER, H.	Summer School!: What Genius Thought That Up? by Henry Winkler. Stuck in summer school while his friends enjoy a “Passport to Hawaii,” nearly-eleven-year-old Hank needs to earn an A on an oral report about Einstein in order to participate in Magik 3’s talent show act at the luau extravaganza.