This is a very silly book, which is why it’s so brilliant. A kind of instructional, self-help guide to keep you safe at all times, Danger is Everywhere by David O’Doherty and Chris Judge, will teach you to be wary of EVERYTHING, even things that are entirely made up (i’m now always on the look-out for supermarket leopards hiding under over-ripe bananas!) And quite right too.
The Last Kids on Earth
For children not quite old enough for the gore and horror of The Walking Dead but still wanting their zombie apocalypses, The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier is a riot of fun.
Swim the Fly
Funny stories for teenagers are hard to come by, but if Swim the Fly by Don Calame had been published when I was a teenager, I would’ve devoured it.
It’s a little bit raucous and rude (definitely a book for fourteens and over) but has the funniest cast of characters imaginable.
Three teenage boys make pact at the beginning of the school holidays: within six weeks they have to see a naked body, in real life. What follows is ridiculously funny…
The Murdstone Trilogy
Teenagers who love Terry Pratchett will devour this Faustian tale about a writer, desperate for fame and fortune.
Part satire, part expose of the publishing world, the prose fizzes off the page. Mal Peet has won just about every literary prize there is, but The Murdstone Trilogy is his first ‘funny’ book, and what a success it is!