Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/elephants-and-underwear-celebrating-humor-with-books/5021064/
Humor is a tricky subject. I’ve seen enough blank stares over the years to know that one person’s belly laugh is someone else’s “huh?” Many have tried, but it takes a very special author or illustrator to hit the funny bone on the mark. Nevertheless, there is a great wealth of humor in children’s literature, and many of the best children’s books are truly funny, in word or pictures or both. From existential to clever to very, very silly, even a book about laughter itself, here are some to read out loud and together. Be prepared for giggles!Laugh Out Loud Baby by Tony Johnston; illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Simon and Schuster, 2012); Ages 2�"6.
How many ways are there to laugh? Tony Johnston shares the Navajo tradition of a baby’s First Laugh Ceremony, signifying the child’s readiness to become human. Stephen Gammell’s illustrations bring a big, sprawling, diverse crowd to the celebration (as he did in his delightful Caldecott Medal winner, The Relatives Came). A throng of relatives and neighbors arrive with their own chuckles, guffaws, snickers, snorts, and other varieties of mirth to eat, kiss, pass the baby around, and wait to hear that heavenly whoopie-doodle sound of baby laughter. This ...