By Melanie Ellsworth

There is nothing funny about a global pandemic. Uncertainty doesn’t lend itself to humor. However, these last few days, finding opportunities to smile or even laugh out loud have helped me face somber news with more clarity and perspective.

So, if you need a smile today or know a child who could use a laugh, why not share a laugh-out-loud picture book? Here are 10 of my family’s all-time favorites:

• Wolf Camp by Andrea Zuill, about a dog who goes to wolf camp.
  What cracks us up: The counselors named Fang and Grrr

• Dogs on the Bed by Elizabeth Bluemle, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
  What cracks us up: Words like “tailywagger” and the hilarious illustrations

• Flop to the Top by Eleanor Davis & Drew Weing
  What cracks us up: Wanda’s personality and the way she carries her floppy dog, Wilbur

Are you sensing a theme here? My family has a thing for dogs. (Cow books are also funny.) But in case dogs aren’t your family’s thing because you’re from another planet, here are a few more recommendations:

• Outfoxed by Mike Twohy
  What cracks us up: the way Duck outfoxes Fox

• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
  What cracks us up: the way the narrators banter back and forth about whether they’re seeing a duck or a rabbit

• Good Egg by Barney Saltzberg (lift-the-flap, interactive book)
  What cracks us up: the way the egg is asked to do tricks like a dog

• The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach
  What cracks us up: the sneaky narrator

• Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
  What cracks us up: The dialogue between the young chicken and her Papa

• Escargot by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Sydney Hanson
  What cracks us up: Escargot’s personality

• Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
  What cracks us up: Bob, the only dust bunny who doesn’t participate in the rhyming

So, cuddle up with your blankie, a child, or a dog (or all three) and have some laughs. You need them! And click around our Soaring ’20s website. You’ll find some more funny titles debuting throughout 2020!

Melanie Ellsworth lives with her family and writes picture books in mid-coast Maine. Her debut picture book, CLARINET & TRUMPET, comes out on August 25, 2020 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. HIP, HIP…BERET! follows in February 2021. Find Melanie at Twitter (@melanieells) and Instagram (melaniebellsworth).