Books that will make you 'laugh out loud'
Posted on Monday, June 4, 2018
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The shortlist for the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Awards (or 'Lollies'), which celebrates funny books for children, has been announced by former Children's Laureate, author and poet Michael Rosen.
Having long championed humorous books for children, Rosen said of the shortlist: "Anyone around children looking for books to have them giggling and laughing over and over again, these 12 books will do the job. They are infectious and contagious and dangerous! Children will want to read them and ask for more. People talk about the importance of getting children reading, well, these shortlisted books do the work all by themselves." The Lollies are awarded in three categories: Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book, Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds and Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds. The shortlisted books in each category are as follows: Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book: Mr Bunny's Chocolate Factory by Elys Dolan (OUP) The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (Hachette) Oi Cat! by Kes Gray and Jim Field (Hachette) I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt (PRH) Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds: Barry Loser and the Birthday Billions by Jim Smith (Egmont) The Big, Fat, Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig by Emer Stamp (Scholastic) There's a Werewolf in My Tent! by Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham (Nosy Crow) Lyttle Lies: The Pudding Problem by Joe Berger (Simon and Schuster) Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds: Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (Kind Of) by Liz Pichon (Scholastic) My Mum's Growing Down by Laura Dockrill and David Tazzyman (Faber) Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure by A. L. Kennedy and Gemma Correll (Walker) Football Season 2: Where Football Saves the World by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton and Spike Gerrell (Walker) The winning book in each category will be decided solely by children's votes, with schools and parents encouraged to help kids get involved and vote via the Lollies website, below, or via the Lollies PopJam channel. Voting is open until 14th December. Teachers can cast up to 35 votes on behalf of their class for each category. The winning books will be announced in January 2019. The judges for the shortlisted books included Katie Thistleton, presenter and host of the CBBC Children's Book Club, primary school teachers and bloggers, Jo Cummins and Jonny Walker, as well Kate Newport, product director for Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs. The Lollies were created in response to findings from the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report, (www.scholastic.co.uk/readingreport) which found that what two-thirds of children aged six-17 looked for when choosing books for themselves were 'books that make me laugh'.
