6 Humorous Novels to Make Your Secondary Students Laugh Out Loud

Not all students are looking for an emotionally heavy book when they are reading for pleasure. Think about your students who loved (or may still love) The Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the Captain Underpants series. These students want to laugh, not cry, at their books. Here's 6 humorous novels that I've recently read and would recommend to secondary students. Click the title of each to read my full review and ideas for using it in the classroom.

1. Scrawl by by Mark Shulman
This novel is written in a journal format by Tod as he sits in detention with his guidance counselor. He's a "bad kid" who loathes everything about the establishment of school and has quite the humorous way of describing his dislikes to his reader.

2. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Roy is the new kid at school barely surviving the efforts of the school bus bully to crush him, until he spots a boy his age running barefoot one day. Roy is determined to find the boy and find out what he's running from. When he does find out, Roy becomes involved in a battle to preserve the habitat of burrowing owls.

3. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Greg thinks suffering the trials of being an outcast in high school is bad. Then his mom promises that he will befriend a classmate and former girlfriend who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Somehow Greg is able to infuse both situations with laughter for the other characters as well as the reader.

4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation is also an outsider determined to make his own path in life. The novel also provides opportunities for teens to reflect on the loved ones they've lost.

5. Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
The novel alternates between the present action, Liam lost in outer space with four other children, and the past events leading up to his adventure gone wrong. Liam is frequently mistaken for an adult, which has its benefits, but when he wins a trip to ride an exciting new thrill ride, which turns out to be a trip into outer space, he may have finally let things go a little too far.

6. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
This book is so much more than historical fiction. The narrator Monty is hilarious and the novel is full of adventure and action. There's romance in the plot, but also some mystery. The author even tackles issues of race, gender, and sexuality.