15 Best Books for Third Graders That Are Actually Funny

Third grade is a funny reading year.

Not funny ha-ha.

Although around here, preferably that too.

I mean funny because third graders are all over the map as readers.

One kid is tearing through a 200-page graphic novel before you've found the bookmark. Another is happily reading short chapter books. Somebody else can handle a longer novel but still wants pictures along for the ride.

And some of them still love picture books.

Good.

They should.

A great picture book does not expire when a kid hits third grade. If anything, older elementary readers catch things younger kids miss: sarcasm, parody, visual clues, point of view, unreliable narrators, jokes about how books themselves work.

So this is not fifteen chapter books pretending every third grader reads the same way.

I'm Jungle Jimmy the Book Explorer, children's author, dad, and longtime performer for kids. Along for the expedition is Readit the Book Worm, my childlike sidekick, whose main concern is that I don't accidentally recommend anything boring.

Fair.

We're after books that make a third grader want to keep reading. That means graphic novels, illustrated novels, chapter books, picture books, read-alouds, ridiculous schools, superhero squirrels, zombie apocalypses, evil bunnies, talking crayons, and at least one principal running around in his underwear.

Third grade is going to be fine.

Five of these are picture books and ten are longer. That split is deliberate, and the order is about what a book gives a third grader, not how funny I found it. Where a book has a full Book Explorers review, I've linked it and shown the Belly Laugh Scale score from that page. Five titles here don't have reviews yet, so they don't get a link. I'm not sending you to a page that doesn't exist.

Quick Picks

• Best for kids ready for longer books: Sideways Stories from Wayside School
• Best for reluctant readers: Dog Man
• Best big stretch: The Last Kids on Earth
• Best book that misbehaves: The Stinky Cheese Man
• Best fast chapter book: The Bad Guys
• Best for kids who draw on everything: Battle Bunny
• Best chapter book with pictures still helping: Dory Fantasmagory
• Best richer, stranger funny: Flora & Ulysses
• Best next step after Dog Man: InvestiGators
• Best point of view: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!
• Best underwear-based literature: The Adventures of Captain Underpants
• Best for character voice: The Day the Crayons Quit
• Best confidence builder: The Princess in Black
• Best everyday problems: Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid
• Best read-aloud: The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors

1. Best for Kids Ready for Longer Books: Sideways Stories from Wayside School

By Louis Sachar

Wayside School was supposed to have thirty classrooms next to each other.

Somebody stacked them thirty stories high instead.

Sorry about that.

That's the operating system for the whole book. Thirty short stories about a school where Mrs. Gorf turns misbehaving children into apples, John can read only when the words are upside down, Todd keeps getting punished for things that aren't his fault, and a suspiciously smelly new kid named Sammy turns up.

There are more than 20,000 words here. The short-story structure makes that jump survivable. A third grader never has to hold one giant plot in the air. Finish one strange story, meet another strange kid, keep going.

Which is why it takes the top spot. It's a real step into longer independent reading that doesn't ask a kid to trade in their sense of humor.

Belly Laugh Scale: 5/5, Laugh-Out-Loud Legend

Read the full Wayside School review.

2. Best for Reluctant Readers: Dog Man

By Dav Pilkey

Dog head.

Police officer body.

Crime fighting.

Dav Pilkey has entered the building.

This is the book that makes adults worry a child is "only reading comics" while the child quietly finishes an entire book.

I'll take that deal.

Panels, speech bubbles, action, visual jokes, deliberately ridiculous spelling, Flip-O-Rama, and the kind of momentum that makes "one more chapter" happen without negotiation.

For a third grader who sees a wall of prose and starts checking the exits, Dog Man is a door.

Walk through.

Belly Laugh Scale: 5/5, Laugh-Out-Loud Legend

Read the full Dog Man review.

3. Best Big Stretch: The Last Kids on Earth

By Max Brallier, illustrated by Douglas Holgate

The Monster Apocalypse has arrived.

Jack Sullivan is living in an upgraded tree house, fighting zombies, inventing video-game achievements for himself, driving something called Big Mama, and trying not to be squashed by a monster named Blarg.

Normal Tuesday.

This is my pick for the stronger or highly motivated third grader, because it looks and reads like a substantial novel while Douglas Holgate's illustrations keep giving the eye somewhere to land.

It doesn't remove the challenge. It gives kids reasons to accept it.

And if a child will read nearly 22,000 words because a giant monster is waiting on the next page, I'll take that deal too.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full Last Kids on Earth review.

4. Best Book That Misbehaves: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

By Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

This is a picture book.

It is also completely bonkers.

Scieszka takes familiar fairy tales, shakes the screws loose, and hands them to Lane Smith, who seems perfectly happy to let the book itself misbehave.

Stories interrupt other stories. Characters complain. The narrator loses control. The table of contents falls on somebody.

And the Stinky Cheese Man is, unfortunately, still stinky.

This is exactly why I wanted picture books on a third-grade list. A kindergartner laughs at the weird pictures. A third grader starts catching the parody, the narrator jokes, the book-design tricks, and the fact that two grown men are fooling around with the rules of storytelling.

Same book.

More jokes unlocked.

Belly Laugh Scale: 5/5, Laugh-Out-Loud Legend

Read the full Stinky Cheese Man review.

5. Best Fast Chapter Book: The Bad Guys

By Aaron Blabey

Mr. Wolf wants everybody to know he's a good guy.

This would be easier to believe if he weren't a wolf with a criminal record assembling a team of a snake, a shark and a piranha.

Blabey uses short bursts of text, big illustrations, comic timing and a lot of white space to make this move fast.

That matters in third grade. Not every kid capable of reading a chapter book wants one that looks like homework wearing a cover.

The Bad Guys looks approachable.

Then the jokes take over.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full Bad Guys review.

6. Best for Kids Who Draw on Everything: Battle Bunny

By Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, illustrated by Matt Myers

Somebody has vandalized this book.

His name is Alex.

He takes a sweet old story called Birthday Bunny and starts crossing things out, adding words, drawing weapons and explosions, and turning the innocent bunny into Battle Bunny.

The clever part is that the original is still underneath.

Third graders can compare what the page said with what Alex turned it into. They can inspect Matt Myers's original paintings and then hunt through Alex's penciled additions.

You're reading the book and the destruction of the book at the same time.

Just provide paper before anybody gets inspired.

Library books have suffered enough.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full Battle Bunny review.

7. Best Chapter Book With Pictures Still Helping: Dory Fantasmagory

By Abby Hanlon

Dory's older brother and sister would really like her to stop bothering them.

Dory would really like them to reconsider.

She has an enormous imagination, an imaginary monster friend, a witch named Mrs. Gobble Gracker in her orbit, and a habit of turning ordinary family life into something much bigger.

Hanlon understands that a child's imaginary world doesn't feel like a side activity while it's happening.

It's the main event.

The drawings, speech bubbles and short sections make this a comfortable move into chapter books, while Dory's personality keeps it from feeling like practice.

She's funny.

She's exhausting.

She's Dory.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full Dory Fantasmagory review.

8. Best Richer, Stranger Funny: Flora & Ulysses

By Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K. G. Campbell

A squirrel gets sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

This is bad.

He survives.

This is better.

He may now have superpowers.

Okay, we're back.

Flora is a self-described cynic who discovers that Ulysses the squirrel can do unexpected things, including flying and writing poetry.

This is a bigger stretch than most of the list. The language and the emotional layers ask more of a reader, while K. G. Campbell's illustrations and comic-style sequences keep the format playful. Scholastic places it at grades 3 to 6, which makes it useful at the stronger end of third grade rather than the middle.

And "superhero squirrel" is a phrase I find difficult to resist.

We haven't reviewed this one yet, so there's no Belly Laugh Scale score for it.

9. Best Next Step After Dog Man: InvestiGators

By John Patrick Green

Mango and Brash are alligator secret agents.

They investigate.

Therefore: InvestiGators.

Good start.

Green sends his gator detectives through sewers, spy missions, gadgets, villains, acronyms and enough puns that the English language may want to seek legal representation.

This is a full graphic novel. Macmillan places the series at ages 7 to 10, and the first book runs 208 pages, but panels and visual storytelling make those pages move very differently from 208 pages of prose.

Which is exactly why page count is a lousy way to build a reading list.

For a kid already inhaling Dog Man, this is the natural next shelf.

No Book Explorers review yet.

10. Best Point of View: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

By Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

The Big Bad Wolf would like to clear something up.

You have not heard his side.

He needed a cup of sugar. He had a cold. Things happened. Houses fell. Pigs were eaten.

You know how these things go.

Another picture book that improves with age, because a third grader can finally ask the real question:

Do I believe this guy?

Scieszka gives us the wolf's version. Lane Smith gives us plenty to inspect. Then the reader decides how much to trust the storyteller.

Funny book.

Excellent classroom argument.

I mean discussion.

Definitely discussion.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full True Story of the 3 Little Pigs review.

11. Best Underwear-Based Literature: The Adventures of Captain Underpants

By Dav Pilkey

George and Harold make comic books.

They pull pranks.

They hypnotize their principal.

And Mr. Krupp winds up convinced he is Captain Underpants.

There is no reason this should be dignified.

That's the point.

Pilkey mixes prose, cartoons, homemade-comic energy, Flip-O-Rama, superhero parody, school trouble and bathroom humor. Scholastic puts the series at ages 7 to 10, grades 2 to 5, and calls it a fit for avid and reluctant readers alike.

Third grade is prime Captain Underpants territory.

Will every grown-up love the humor?

No.

Will that devastate an eight-year-old?

Also no.

No Book Explorers review yet.

12. Best for Character Voice: The Day the Crayons Quit

By Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Duncan wants to color.

His crayons have other plans.

They've written letters, and they have complaints. Some are overworked. Some are underused. Some are arguing with each other.

I have attended meetings like this.

Daywalt gives every crayon a distinct grievance and a distinct voice, while Oliver Jeffers makes the letters, the drawings and the childlike artwork part of the comedy.

For third graders the value goes past "talking crayons are funny."

This is a book about voice. How does Red complain differently from Beige? How does a character build an argument? What does each crayon actually want Duncan to do?

That's a lot to work with in forty pages.

Belly Laugh Scale: 4/5, Big-Time Belly Laughs

Read the full Day the Crayons Quit review.

13. Best Confidence Builder: The Princess in Black

By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Princess Magnolia is hosting a duchess when the monster alarm rings.

Inconvenient.

She slips away, changes into the Princess in Black, and goes to stop the monster before her guest works out what's happening.

Candlewick lists the 96-page first book at ages 5 to 8, with LeUyen Pham's illustrations throughout.

For a lot of third graders this is an easy independent read.

That is not a problem.

Sometimes the right book is the one a child can absolutely crush. Fluency, confidence and series momentum all count.

Plus there are monsters.

I continue to support monsters.

No Book Explorers review yet.

14. Best Everyday Problems: Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid

By Megan McDonald, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Stink Moody is short.

He knows it. His family knows it. And he would very much like the measuring tape to produce different information.

McDonald takes Judy Moody's younger brother and gives him his own series, mixing school, family, science facts, comics and the daily indignities of being the little guy.

That earns its place here because not every third grader wants another fantasy quest. Some want a funny character dealing with school, siblings and ordinary problems that feel enormous when you're the one having them.

Stink is that lane.

No Book Explorers review yet.

15. Best Read-Aloud: The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors

By Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Adam Rex

Rock is a warrior.

Paper is a warrior.

Scissors is a warrior.

The trouble is that each keeps defeating everybody in his own kingdom. Rock destroys an apricot. Scissors battles dinosaurs. Paper takes on a printer.

None can find a worthy opponent.

Until they find each other.

This is a picture book that changes completely when you read it to a room. Daywalt writes the battles as absurd epic confrontations and Adam Rex gives the competitors faces worthy of warriors deciding the fate of the universe, rather than three objects working out who goes first.

Give the voices room.

Third graders already know the game, which makes the ridiculously serious origin story land even harder.

Belly Laugh Scale: 5/5, Laugh-Out-Loud Legend

Read the full Legend of Rock Paper Scissors review.

How I Chose These

Not by hunting for fifteen books with "Grade 3" printed on a publisher page.

Third grade doesn't work that way. The spread is too wide.

I wanted the list to offer different ways forward.

A kid comfortable in graphic novels can move from Dog Man to InvestiGators.

A reader starting chapter books can take The Princess in Black, Dory Fantasmagory or The Bad Guys.

A child ready for more text heads toward Wayside School.

A reader who wants a real challenge tries The Last Kids on Earth or Flora & Ulysses.

And the picture books are not sitting in the baby corner.

There is no baby corner.

Battle Bunny, The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! ask readers to notice how stories are built. The Day the Crayons Quit plays with voice and argument. The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors is built to come alive when somebody commits to it.

Different books.

Different reading muscles.

Same goal.

Picture Books or Chapter Books?

Both.

Please don't make me choose.

A third grader reading a 200-page graphic novel isn't cheating.

A third grader reading a 40-page picture book isn't going backward.

And a third grader who can read a long novel doesn't need every book to be hard.

Sometimes we read to stretch.

Sometimes we read to practice.

Sometimes we read because an alligator spy just went through a toilet and we need to know what happens next.

That's reading too.

The better question is what book this particular kid will actually want to read.

Start there. Then give them another one.

What If My Third Grader Doesn't Like Reading?

I'd get curious before I'd get worried.

Is reading hard? Are the books too long? Are the topics boring to them? Do they like comics but keep getting handed prose? Can they read the words but lose track of the story? Do they love being read to and resist reading alone?

Those are different problems and they don't share a solution.

For a kid who's reluctant because the page looks intimidating, start around Dog Man, The Bad Guys, InvestiGators or The Princess in Black.

For a kid who can read but hasn't found a book worth caring about, chase the interest.

Monsters? The Last Kids on Earth.

Absolute nonsense? Wayside School.

Superheroes? Captain Underpants or Flora & Ulysses.

School and family? Stink.

Pictures and weird jokes? Hand over Battle Bunny and watch what happens.

The goal isn't getting a third grader to finish the book you think they should love. It's helping them find out what kind of reader they might become.

There's more on that in our list of books for reluctant readers, which sorts by the excuse you're actually hearing.

One From My Own Shelf

Three of the books above are really about kids who make things. Alex takes a pencil to Battle Bunny. George and Harold draw their own comics. Dav Pilkey ends Dog Man by teaching you to draw the characters.

That instinct is worth feeding.

How To Make Your Sock Talk is the one I wrote for it. It's aimed at ages 5 to 10 and it isn't another story. It teaches a kid to build a character and give it a voice, which is the same itch Pilkey is scratching with those drawing pages.

Some kids finish a funny book and want the next one.

Some finish it and want to make one.

Both are good outcomes.

Jungle Jimmy's Final Picks

If you want three books to start with, I'd go three different directions.

For the chapter-book reader: Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Short stories, ridiculous school logic, and enough weirdness to pull a kid through a much longer book than they'd normally attempt.

For the reluctant or highly visual reader: Dog Man. Don't fight the format. Use it.

For the classroom or family read-aloud: The Stinky Cheese Man. Older elementary kids finally catch what Scieszka and Smith are actually up to, and everybody still gets to laugh at the cheese.

And if none of those three light up your reader, good thing there are twelve more.

If your kid is younger, we sorted the same shelf for first graders and second graders. By age, there's five, six and seven.

Keep exploring, Story Seekers!

Jungle Jimmy & Readit