Joanna Nadin's top 10 laugh-out-loud reads for 5-8-year-olds
From classic funny writers Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss to newer kids on the block Andy Stanton and Lauren Child, the Penny Dreadful author picks her top side-splitting reads
Quentin Blake's illustration of Roald Dahl's The Twits, one of four Blake-ian books on Joanna Nadin's funny list
"I have always 'done' funny. Both as a reader, and a writer. Not least because giving beady eyed women moustaches, or making little boys get their heads trapped in railings is a great way to get revenge on those people at school who mercilessly taunted you for having hair like Leo Sayer (yes I was bullied – how irritatingly stereotypical of me).
Because, the thing is, funny books are just as clever, just as worthwhile, and just as potentially life-changing. And, guess what, they make learning to read – and reading aloud – a lot of fun. So here, in the order they fell off my shelves, are my top ten books to get you laughing like drains (no, I don't get that saying either).I don't subscribe to the thinking that places 'issues' books above comedy – in fact I'm still smarting from the time my O level English teacher told me I'd never amount to anything when he caught me reading George's Marvellous Medicine under the desk, instead of the copy of Silas Marner that was sat sullenly on top of it. Ha, more revenge (where are you now, Mr Pruvey?)
Joanna Nadin grew up in the small Essex town of Saffron Walden. Before becoming a writer she was a lifeguard, a newsreader on the radio, and special adviser to the Prime Minister. Joanna continues to freelance as a political speechwriter. Penny Dreadful is a Record Breaker is the fifth book in the Penny Dreadful series. To celebrate publication, on World Book Day Joanna and King Edward's school in Bath are going to try to break the world record for "the largest reading lesson in a single venue".
1. You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton
Grown-ups may not appreciate all the oddball humour in Andy Stanton's bestselling series (a gingerbread man called Alan Taylor?), but small boys and girls certainly do. This is a man so funny he made my friend's son laugh until he threw up.
2. Nicholas by Goscinny
I have to confess (mostly in order to show off) that I first read these short stories about Nicholas and his gang of schoolmates in French, having no idea I could have saved myself some effort with the English versions. Having now checked for you, I can confirm they are just as funny in translation.
3. Arabel's Raven by Joan Aiken
The first in the series about four-year-old Arabel Jones and her cantankerous pet raven Mortimer, who eats stairs, spears crisps, and shrieks "Nevermore" with alarming regularity. Weird, dark, clever and as funny today as it was when it was first featured on Jackanory. And responsible for my life-long desire to own a giant black bird I can haul around on a rollerskate.
4. The Twits by Roald Dahl
Having (not without difficulty) restricted myself to a single Dahl, I've picked the tale of how the marvellous Muggle-Wump monkeys get the better of the vile Mr and Mrs Twit, with the help of Hugtight Sticky Glue. Hairy, hilarious and horrible in equal measure.
5. What Planet Are You From, Clarice Bean? by Lauren Child
A natural progression for Charlie and Lola fans (old and young), we're welcomed into the world of the weary Clarice Bean, who lives with her monosyllabic and smelly big brother Kurt, boy-mad sister Marcie, and irritating younger sibling Minal Cricket. This story (one of a series) sees Clarice partnered with whining teacher's pet Robert Granger for her environment project, Kurt embark on a Swampy-style tree protest, and the awful Mrs Wilberforce get her come-uppance.
6. My Naughty Little Sister and Bad Harry by Dorothy Edwards
These wonderful books, originally written for the BBC's Listen With Mother in the 50s, are based on the author's memories of her own tyrannical smaller sibling. Smile, as your children gasp at the titular child's awful antics; and then gasp yourself as they repeat them with delight the next day (or is that just mine?).
7. Awful End by Philip Ardagh
As with Dahl, it's hard to pick a single Ardagh, as they are all so weird and wonderful, but this was my initiation into his, and Eddie Dickens's, world so it's a good place to start. The first in the trilogy, this tells the tale of 11-year-old Eddie, who is sent away to live at the eponymous house with his Mad Uncle Jack, Even Madder Aunt Maud and a stuffed stoat called Malcolm.
8. How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsman by Russell Hoban
The third of my Quentin Blake-ian illustrated books, this is the story of Tom who likes to fool around, and his fearsome Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong who wears an iron hat, and doesn't suffer fools (or anyone) gladly. A satisfying David and Goliath tale, with bloaters, mutton sog and sneedball thrown in.
9. The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr Seuss
I first read these aged five; I first read them to my daughter aged one; we both still read them today aged nine, and a lot more. The Sneetches is a wonderfully framed lesson in difference and tolerance, but my favourite is the cautionary tale of Mrs McCave, who had 23 sons, and she named them all Dave.
10. The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm by Norman Hunter
There was a time when even the mention of the East Pagwell Canal was enough to render me so helpless with laughter I would be banished to a dingy cupboard until I could speak coherently in public again (or so my selective and possibly skewed memory tells me). My beloved edition of Professor Branestawm's Treasure Hunt is sadly now out of print, but I am sure this volume will do the absent-minded inventor justice.
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