Funny poems are a great way to keep your kids turning pages and reading for fun. The main reason? When kids laugh, there’s an incentive to see what the next poem says, and then the next. Kenn Nesbitt, who has been writing poems for children for 19 years and frequently talks to students at elementary schools says while parents may dismiss funny poems as too light and fluffy to count as “real reading,” they help kids develop real reading skills and real vocabulary.

Summer break can be a great time to help your kids pick up a few books of funny poems from the library. Here are a few authors to look for:

Shel Silverstein

• Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings
• A Light in the Attic
• Falling Up
• Everything On It

Kenn Nesbitt

• The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids
• The Tighty Whitey Spider and More Wacky Animal Poems I Totally Made Up
• My Hippo Has the Hiccups and Other Poems I Totally Made Up
• When the Teacher Isn’t Looking and Other Funny School Poems

Jack Prelutsky

• The New Kid on the Block
• It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles
• A Pizza the Size of the Sun