Hey Middle Graders! Do you like stories that are bizarre, weird and funny, with adventure mixed in? Then you're just like me! So if you're looking for a new book then check out my list of great reads below!

1. A Whole Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup. Book 1 of 3 in series. Kids and dad adventure story featuring a time travelling machine that doesn’t really work, a psychic dog, and a chimpanzee super-spy.

2. Beetle Boy by M.G. Leonard. First of 3 books in the Battle of The Beetles series. Kidnapped father, super intelligent beetles, and an evil fashionista villainess.

3. Charlie And The War Against The Grannies by Alan Brough. Granny wars, false teeth humour.

4. Clever Trevor's Stupendous Inventions by Andrew Weldon. Trevor’s teacher steals his crazy and lucrative inventions.

5. Dog Man by Dav Pilkey. Book 1 of 7. Spinoff from Captain Underpants series – a crime-fighting policeman with a dog head and a nose for justice.

6. Don't Pat The Wombat by Elizabeth Honey. Grade 5 camp and nasty chaperone, gross rhymes as well as funny story line.

7. Earthling Ambassador by Liane Moriarty. Book 1 of 3 in the Nicola Berry Series + spinoffs. Sci-fi space action adventure, with humour.

8. Exploding Endings by Tim Harris. Anthology of short stories with quirky endings. 4 books in series.

9. Fizzlebert Stump - The Boy Who Ran Away From The Circus (and joined the library) by AF Harrold. Book 1 of 6. Cautionary tale where Fizzlebert is kidnapped by pensioners.

10. Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Book 1 of 6. Adventures of a 1.5 inch thick boy.

11. Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo. Novel interspersed with comic-style graphics. “The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming” – eccentric, laugh out loud.

12. Frankie Fish and the Sonic Suitcase by Peter Hellier. 3 books in series. Time travel chaos and adventure.

13. Friday Barnes Girl Detective by R. A. Spratt. Book 1 of 7 (Friday Barnes series). Mystery series, clever funny.

14. Gastronauts by James Foley. Brain enhancing nanobots have been swallowed by baby brother, so Sally Tinker shrinks herself to go inside and save him.

15. Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre. Book 1 in series of 3 (so far). Graphic novel; giant slaying (later books - monster and dragon slaying) by girls (and a brother), action/adventure and anti-sterotype humour.

16. Goth Girl and The Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddle. Book 1 of 4 (Goth Girl series). Funny ghost story adventures.

17. Holes by Louis Sachar. Humorous tale of crime, punishment and redemption, started by a curse that takes Stanley to the ominous Camp Lake Green.

18. Horrible Histories – non-fiction history series by Terry Deary. Lots of different historical periods, extremely funny (and often gross). Brilliant!

19. Jimmy Cook Discovers Third Grade by Kate & Jol Temple. Book 1 of 2. Jimmy believes he is the descendent of Captain James Cook, and resolves to go to Hawaii to teach them all a lesson. Humour based on mistakes, plus learn a bit more about explorer James Cook.

20. Laugh Your Head Off – short story anthology by various authors (including Andy Griffiths).

21. Little Lunch: The Slide by Danny Katz. First book in series of 7. Ridiculous things happening in the school playground.

22. Marge In Charge by Isla Fisher. Book 1 of 5. Babysitter is crazier than the kids, who have to clean up her messy adventures before the parents get home. Quite funny.

23. Matilda, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The Twits, The Witches, The BFG – or most anything by Roald Dahl

24. Mouse Noses on Toast by Darren King. Mouse activists and cheese addicts campaigning to stop the - oh no! - humans eating mice.

25. Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables by Tim Harris. Book 1 of 3. Strange things start happening when a new teacher who used to work at the circus arrives at school.

26. Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinary! by Polly Horvath. Book 1 of 2 (2nd - Lord and Lady Bunny). Silly and fun, Mr & Mrs Bunny bumble through detective adventures.

27. Olga And The Smelly Thing From Nowhere by Elise Gravel. Book 1 in (Olga) series of 3. Child scientist who loves all animals (think a hamster crossed with a potato), science facts included.

28. Olive of Groves by Katrina Nannestad. Book 1 in series of 3. Girl starts at a new, and very weird, boarding school. Lots of animal characters.

29. Paul Jennings' Weirdest Stories by Paul Jennings. A collection of weird short stories.

30. Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. Book 1 in the Magical Nostrils series of 6, plus spinoffs. Graphic novel, slightly crazy, not the usual sugary unicorn story about Phoebe and “Heavenly Magical Nostrils”.

31. Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff by Robert Paul Weston. Rhyming, absurd humour, about two royal pigs who teach the kingdom a fashion lesson.

32. Real Pigeons Fight Crime by Andrew MacDonald. Crime-fighting pigeons protecting the city, absurd humour, graphic-type novel.

33. Red Dirt Diary by Katrina Nannestad. Book 1 of 4. Diary of 11 year old country girl with a bizarre outlook on life and the wacky adventures / hardships of living on a farm.

34. Selby’s Secret by Duncan Ball. Book 1 of 16 + spinoffs. Adventures of Selby, the only talking dog in Australia.

35. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. First book of 5 in the Wayside School series. A crazy 30 storey school where every classroom is built on top of the other - absurd with keen observations of school days.

36. Takeshita Demons by Cristy Burne. Book 1 of series of (eventually) 4 (currently at no. 3). Japanese-demon tale, where a young brother has been kidnapped by family demons after they move to the UK; growing up, adventure, horror and wry humour.

37. The 13 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths (illustrated by Terry Denton). Awesomely absurd treehouse with incredible antics (and a new book every 13 storeys - current series is up to 91 storeys!). Audio version is terrific too.

38. The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt. Book 1 of 9 in the Nanny Piggins series. Impeccably dressed chocolate loving pig becomes nanny to 3 children, laugh out loud hilarious.

39. The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Superhero powered broccoli, very funny.

40. The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey. Book 1 of 9. Mr Wolf and his gang of bad animals try and do good tasks to prove they aren’t bad any more. Funny, funny, funny.

41. The Boy Who Crashed To Earth by Judd Winick. Book 1 in series of 5. Graphic novel, kid alien misadventures, laugh out loud funny.

42. The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher. Imaginative, festive, humorous story about a young wheelchair-bound boy, a wish (for a dinosaur), and an villain who wants to kill Santa’s reindeer.

43. The Danger Is Everywhere by David O'Doherty. Book 1 in series of 3. Neurotic-inspired instruction manual on how to avoid the apparent danger of everything.

44. The Extremely Weird Thing That Happened in Huggabie Falls by Adam Cice. First book in series of 3. Weirdness is normal, but thanks to an evil scientist, normal is taking over their town.

45. The Great Hamster Massacre by Kate Davies. Book 1 of 4 of the Critter Capers series. Part detective, part diary, quirky animal humour.

46. The Jolly Regina by Kara LaReau. First book of The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters series, with the sequel, The Uncanny Express. Pirate kidnapping and hi-jinks.

47. The Parent Agency by David Baddiel. A boy travels to an alternate world where kids get to choose their own parents. Be careful what you wish for …

48. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka. Modern twist on classic fairytales.

49. The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbit. Book 1 of 3 (Mabel Jones series). When Mabel picks her nose and eats her snot, she is transported to a world of pirates. Bonkers and fun.

50. Truly Tan by Jen Storer. First in series of 5. Funny with ghosts, mystery, spy files, adventure.

51. Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans. Wildly funny, slightly demented adventure story where a storybook land has been overtaken by a cruel dictator and the kids reading it take action to save it from a cruel fate.

52. World’s Worst Children by David Walliams. Book 1 in series of 3. Magnifies worst attributes of kids, snot-laughingly funny.

53. You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton. Book 1 in series of 9. To say this is hilarious is a significant understatement. Lots of made up words and ridiculousness. And PLEASE get the audiobook narrated by Kate Winslet – it’s possibly the funniest narration you’ll EVER listen to.

I'm a huge lover of the bizarre and funny, especially if there's adventure thrown in. If you enjoy books from this list and think I have a good understanding of this genre, I highly recommend you check out my book The Art Show That Came To Life At Bundock Primary School (or the customised version for schools) which was written around these themes. Let me know what you think in the comments!

My School Adventure customises gamebook adventure novel

The Art Show That Came To Life At [Your School Name Here] to schools including 4 real teachers as characters and 22 different endings, as a unique and exciting reading fundraiser for schools. Stay tuned for our second novel, The Science Fair That Went Berserk At [Your School Name Here]. For more information on how we can assist your school please visit www.myschooladventure.com.

Interested in buying The Art Show That Came To Life At Bundock Primary School? Australian readers please click here; rest of the world, click here.

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