Read-alouds and series
Top 10 funniest comic series for kids
Dog Man
Dav Pilkey · Ages 7-10
Slapstick, puns, potty jokes and a running gag on most pages. Fifteen books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Bunny vs Monkey
Jamie Smart · Ages 8-12
Noisy, chaotic forest slapstick with mad machines and silly insults. Twelve books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
The Bad Guys
Aaron Blabey · Ages 6-10
Fast visual jokes as a wolf, a shark, a snake and a piranha try to be heroes. Twenty books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Captain Underpants
Dav Pilkey · Ages 6-10
Two fourth graders, a hypnotised principal and very long villain names. Twelve books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
InvestiGators
John Patrick Green
Alligator detectives, gadgets and a pun in nearly every panel.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Big Nate
Lincoln Peirce · Ages 8-12
A sixth grader whose big plans keep going wrong, in novels and in more than thirty strip collections.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Lunch Lady
Jarrett J. Krosoczka · Ages 7-10
Cafeteria gadgets and villains like a robot substitute and a bake sale bandit. Ten books.
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Narwhal and Jelly
Ben Clanton
A cheerful narwhal and a sensible jellyfish, short chapters in comic panels, for younger readers.
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Babymouse
Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm · Ages 7-10
Daydreams that crash into homework and a messy locker. Twenty books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Pizza and Taco
Stephen Shaskan · Ages 5-8
Two best friends arguing about who is best, for the youngest comic readers. Eleven books.
Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon
Comic series that are jokes first and stories second, for children who want to laugh on every page. Where a series has a Peabody page, the link goes to its books in order.
Every series with a Peabody page was checked against its publisher's pages (or Wikipedia and Bookroo where a publisher's page would not open) on 29 and 30 October 2026; counts are as of 30 October 2026. Ages say whose they are: the publisher's label, or Peabody's own estimate. Series without a Peabody page are named with their author only, from facts we are sure of. Ranked by our judgment. Checked 2026-10-25. Nobody paid to be here. The buy links are plain search links, not affiliate links, so Peabody earns nothing from them.
Max Meow books in order, with a checklist to tick off
- 10picks
- 5–12ages, across the picks
- 9authors
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The books above are to borrow or buy. These are Peabody's own stories for the same reader, free to read online with no account:
More like these: books for level 5 · Funny stories
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More lists
Top 10 series to read after Dog Man
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Top 10 comic series about animals
Comic series whose heroes are animals: cats in space, a wolf trying to be good, a lost kitten, alligator detectives.
Top 20 funny books for grades 3 to 5
Funny books are one of the best ways to build a reading habit.
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Mo Willems made more than the famous pair.
Top 15 chapter books to read aloud to a Pre-K or kindergartener
Reading a chapter a night builds attention and vocabulary well before a child reads one alone.
Best picture book read-alouds for ages 2 to 4
Toddlers and preschoolers want rhythm, repetition and pictures they can point at.
Best picture book read-alouds for ages 5 to 7
By five, kids can follow a real plot and enjoy a joke the grown-up has to deliver well.
Chapter books to read aloud to the whole family
A good family read-aloud works for a six-year-old and a ten-year-old at the same time, and the adult does not mind the fortieth chapter.