The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards (The Lollies) celebrates the best and funniest children’s books in the UK and Ireland, voted for by children. The Awards have been running since 2016 and have been expanded this year to include additional categories.

The Lollies is a book award run by Scholastic searching for the very funniest children’s books published in the previous year. 

Now the judges have decided on a shortlist, children can vote for the winners themselves via the Scholastic website.

The panel of judges includes Lollies ambassador and award-winning author and poet Michael Rosen, graphic designer and illustrator Anita Mangan, authors Ella McLeod and Steven Butler, assistant headteacher Rani Tiwana and Scholastic product manager Susannah Inglis.

The shortlists see some popular and up-and-coming names including Pooja Puri the author whose book A Dinosaur Ate My Sister made it onto the 9 - 12 catergory shortlist.

 Dapo Adeola, an illustrator and character designer who creates characters and images that challenge gender norms in a fun and upbeat way, is there on the shortlist for Illustrator of the Year. He illustrated the latestest in the series of Space Detectives: Cosmic Pet Puzzle and Clean Up!  

Award-wining picture book author and illustrator Nadia Shireen also made the cut in the age 6 - 8 category for her junior adventure story Grimwood.

Ella McLeod said: “Judging the Lollies was such a delight. Not only did I have the unmitigated pleasure of reading some hilarious literature but I also spent a glorious couple of hours discussing what I’d read with fellow children’s literature professionals, some of whom I’ve admired for many years. It’s not always easy to encourage young people to read but it’s vital that we do, and comedy seems like an excellent place to start. Laughter is such a great unifier, isn’t it? A shared sense of humour can really connect people and I hope this shortlist provides ample opportunity for kids to sit and chat and giggle together.”

The shortlists for each category are:

Illustrator of the Year:
Liz Pichon
Dapo Adeola
Steven Lenton
Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet

Picture Book:
Ten Delicious Teachers written by Ross Montgomery, illustrated by Sarah Warburton
Agent Llama written by Angela Woolfe, illustrated by Duncan Beedie
Wee? It Wasn’t Me! written by Clare Helen Walsh, illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne
The King’s Birthday Suit written by Peter Bently, illustrated by Claire Powell

Age 6 to 8:
Grimwood written and illustrated by Nadia Shireen
Genie and Teeny: Make a Wish written and illustrated by Steven Lenton
A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch written by Pamela Butchart, illustrated by Thomas Flintham
The Worst Class in the World Gets Worse written by Joanna Nadin, illustrated by Rikin Parekh

Age 9 to 12:
The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh written by Helen Rutter, illustrated by Andrew Bannecker
The Amazing Edie Eckhart written by Rosie Jones, illustrated by Natalie Smillie
A Dinosaur Ate My Sister written by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan
Freddy vs School written and illustrated by Neill Cameron

Teen:
You’re the One That I Want written by Simon James Green
The Summer We Turned Green written by William Sutcliffe
Hexed written by Julia Tuffs
Not My Problem written by Ciara Smyth

Non-fiction:
Corpse Talk: Dead Good Storytellers written by Adam and Lisa Murphy
British Museum: So You Think You’ve Got It Bad? A Kid’s Life in the Aztec Age written by Chae Strathie, illustrated by Marisa Morea
Unleash Your Creative Monster: A Children’s Guide to Writing written by Andy Jones, illustrated by Olaf Falafel
A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything in Between written by Mike Barfield, illustrated by Jess Bradley

Poetry:
Midnight Magic: Mirror Mischief written by Michelle Harrison, illustrated by Elissa Elwick
Daydreams and Jellybeans written by Alex Wharton, illustrated by Katy Riddell
Yapping Away written by Joshua Seigal, illustrated by Sarah Horne
This is NOT a Unicorn written by Barry Timms, illustrated by Ged Adamson

For more of the funniest new books, our Funny genre section has laugh-out-loud fiction, joke books and stories to make you smile. 

Or read our feature on Funny Reads for Children This World Laughter Day and Every Day