Reading Quest is back for 2025! Looking for reading inspiration? We’re recommending some of our favourite laugh-out-loud funny books which you can read on your quest this summer – all free to borrow with your library card!
Reading Quest starts on 19 July. You can sign up at any library. Find out more about Reading Quest.
Oi Dinosaurs!
Kes Gray and Jim Field
Get your hands on this roaring, stomping, dino-packed new title in the award-winning, bestselling Oi Frog and Friends series!
According to Frog, in dinosaur times sitting down hadn’t been invented. So, Pterosaurs didn’t sit on bendy straws? Velociraptors didn’t sit on plug adaptors? Triceratops didn’t sit on lollipops? Join Frog, Cat and Dog for oodles of prehistoric fun in this rhyming story.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Mo Willems
When a bus driver takes a break in this hilarious Caldecott Honor-winning picture book, he gives the reader just one instruction: “Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus!” But, boy, that pigeon tries every trick in the book to get in that driving seat: he whines, wheedles, fibs and flatters. Will you let him drive?
Told entirely in speech bubbles, this brilliantly original and funny picture book demands audience participation!
This is Not My Hat
Jon Klassen
When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue top hat (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not as though he’ll ever know what happened – will he?
The Bad Guys
Aaron Blabey and Sarah Mitchell
They sound like the Bad Guys, they look like the Bad Guys – and they even smell like the Bad Guys. But Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark are about to change all of that – whether you want them to or not!
Mr Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys’ first good mission. The gang are going to break 200 dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr Snake please stop swallowing Mr Piranha?
You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum!
Andy Stanton and David Tazzyman
Good evening. Mr Gum is a complete horror who hates children, animals, fun and corn on the cob. This book’s all about him. And an angry fairy who lives in his bathtub. And Jake the dog, and a little girl called Polly. And there’s heroes and sweets and adventures and EVERYTHING.
You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! is the first book in the internationally best-selling series by Andy Stanton, which has won everything from the Blue Peter Book Award (twice) to the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award.
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made
Stephen Pastis
Meet Timmy Failure, founder of the “best” detective agency in town – Total Failure, Inc. With the help of his polar bear Total, the clueless, comically self-confident Timmy already has plans for world domination. Plans that will make his mother rich and unpaid bills a thing of the past. And plans that will defeat Corrina Corrina, “The One Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered”.
Riotously funny and perfect for fans of Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates and Barry Loser, Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made has been listed as one of 100 Children’s Modern Classics by The Sunday Times and was chosen for inclusion in Tom Fletcher’s second book club.
Kay’s Anatomy
Adam Kay
Do you ever think about your body and how it all works? Like really properly think about it? The human body is extraordinary and fascinating and, pretty weird. Yours is weird, mine is weird, your maths teacher’s is even weirder.
This book tells you what’s actually going on in there, and answers the really important questions, like: Are bogies safe to eat? Look, if your nose is going to all that effort of creating a snack, the least we can do is check out its nutritional value. (Yes, they’re safe. Chew away!) and How much of your life will you spend on the toilet? About a year – so bring a good book.
A Day in the Life of Fossils, Fire and Other Fantastic Finds
Mike Barfield
From the treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb and Roald Amundsen’s ground-breaking expedition to the South Pole to the uncovering of the first dinosaur, the accidental discovery of penicillin and the launch of the James Webb telescope, this is a laugh-out-loud guide to the world’s most incredible and wonderful discoveries.
Created by award-winning duo Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley, the book follows the highly successful format of the previous three titles, with a mix of graphic-style factual comics, as well as Secret Diaries, Bigger Picture pages, and Even Bigger Picture double-page spreads.
Borrow A Day in the Life of Fossils, Fire and Other Fantastic Finds →
Portuguese 
English 
Polish 
Lithuanian 
Romanian 
Bengali