Kidlit Haha Week 2026 Day #5 – IF IT PLAYED IN PARIS, WILL IT PLAY IN PEORIA with Besty Bird

Humor is subjective. That’s what they tell us.

I often like to quote something Jon Scieszka (professional funnyman) told me when I asked him why funny books didn’t win as many awards as serious books. As he said (quite rightly) when a dog dies in a book, we’re all sad. Maybe to greater and lesser degrees, but we understand the emotion we’re supposed to feel. Yet when a joke is told in a book, there are all kinds of different reactions. I might think it’s hilarious, you might not think it’s funny at all, and the gal over there might think it’s kinda sorta funny. And there are loads of different factors that play into that difference. Personal experience and history, what funny stuff you were raised on, and, of course, culture.

Culture is so key and so interesting, particularly when you back up and take a look not just regionally in the United States, but worldwide. International books for kids can be very VERY funny, but some jokes land differently depending on where you reside and where you grew up. 

To my mind, it all comes down to cultural norms. And nothing challenges such norms here in American more consistently than nudity and bodily functions. Our kids may find naked bodies and farting funny, but to even see books with that stuff on our shelves, those titles have to get through a whole armies’ worth of potentially humorless adults. Even the translated children’s books here in the States go through a rigorous consideration on the part of their American publishers. If the Americans bringing the book over didn’t find it funny, it didn’t come.

This is why visiting the Bologna Book Fair (the international rights fair of children’s literature) is such an eye-opening experience. There, you can see funny titles that may have them rolling in the aisles all around the world, but that will never grace an American shelf. For example, I can tell you right now that as funny as it is, you are probably not going to see this incredible book from Spain called Lina, l’esploratrice in which the heroine learns about menstruation by (amongst other things) surfing a menstrual pad through a sea of blood:

This book is relatively obscure overall, but imagine if there was a funny children’s book series so popular that it spawned movies, television shows, stuffed animals, the works. It exists, but it has never found a foothold in the States. For those who know him and love him, he’s the top of the pops. The king of humor. He is… Butt Detective.

I do not think that I can express how popular Butt Detective truly is. If you’re from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or any number of other nations, his little butt face is most definitely familiar to you. I heard a rumor recently that there is an active push to try to get him onto American shelves and soon, but until I see a pub date I’ll refrain from believing it.

So what IS getting through? Well, I’m happy to report that there are a slew of funny and fun translations and imports that make it onto our American shores every year… if you’re willing to expand your definition of what children’s books can do. These books manage to walk the tightrope between what their native countries find amusing and what Americans determine to be funny. Yet these books face challenges today that, historically, imports have never really faced before. I am talking, of course, about the extensive book bans facing our nation right now.

In this heightened era of book bans, butts are subject to banning. And knowing that, publishers are probably shying away from acquiring anything that might get challenged in any way by those ban-crazy people just hankering to rip books out of the hands of children. We don’t think a lot about the larger repercussions of bans worldwide, but when it comes to imports, you can bet that there’s a chilling effect, not just on diverse voices, but even the very act of laughing itself. That’s not something to giggle over, but if resistance comes in the form of laughing, I say we fight with all our might to never give up the guffaws. 

Even if we don’t always understand them. 

Top 10 Funny International Children’s Books From the Last 5 Years

Aiko and the Planet of Dogs by Christoffer Ellegaard, ill. Ainhoa Cayuso, translated by Irene Vázquez

If you’d like to see a rather good dog conga line, I most certainly have the book for you.

Best Thing Ever! by Beatrice Alemagna, translated by Jill Phythian

There isn’t a parent alive unfamiliar with what happens when a child melts into “a pile of gloop” on the floor of a store. I’m not even certain that that’s a metaphor when you experience it firsthand. A can’t miss title about a literal meltdown. 

Champ by Payam Ebrahimi, ill. Reza Dalvand, translated by Caroline Croskery

Okay, I don’t know why, but the Iranians are just particularly good at funny children’s books. At its core, it’s a story about familial expectations and the ways in which we try to live up to them. Good goofy Iranian fun. 

Diggers, Dozers & Dumpers: Small Stories About Big Machines by Ole Könnecke, translated by Melody Shaw

Hand this to those parents that are burnt out on all the mindless vehicular titles and want something a little funny for their cranium instead. Heck, hand this to those kids that demand stranger vehicles and a bit of a story to boot.

Freya and the Snake by Fredrik Sonck, ill. Jenny Lucander, translated by B.J. Woodstein

When Freya’s father’s attempts to remove a snake from their property ends with him taking the creature’s life, Freya has to come to terms with her dad’s choices and whether or not she can ever forgive him. Doesn’t sound funny. Is hilarious.

How We Share Cake by Kim Hyo-Eun, translated by Deborah Smith

The logistics that go into fairness, particularly when you have multiple siblings to contend with. Kim Hyo-eun doesn’t just understand this concept. She’s able to render it on the page with so much verve and humor than even if you grew up an only child you’ll find yourself laughing in recognition time and time again.

Mine! A Story of Not Sharing by Klara Persson, ill. Charlotte Ramel, translated by Nichola Smalley

Sharing may be caring but hoarding isn’t boring.

My Presentation Today is About the Anaconda by Bibi Dumon Tak, ill. AnneMarie Van Haeringen, translated by Nancy Forest-Flier

Welcome! Today we have gathered to listen to animals give oral presentations about one another. Hear what the southern cassowary has to say about the hummingbird or the rhino of the shoebill. Hilarity and fun facts mix and meld in this truly original collection.

That’s Not Fair by Shinsuke Yoshitake

Following in the footsteps of such books as I Can Open It for You, I Can Explain, and so many others is a book that taps into a great universal feeling amongst children: Injustice. More specifically, the injustice that comes when kids realize that adults don’t have to follow the same rules as their kids.

True Colors: Growing Up Weird in the ‘90s by Elise Gravel, translated by Montana Kane

Elise knows she’s a weirdo, but she’s pretty okay with that, as long as she has her best friend Asma. But when Asma and a new friend start hanging out without her, is their friendship over?

Comment to Win!

Kidlit HaHa Week is giving away one copy of Pop Goes the Nursery Rhyme (US ONLY)

To enter, comment below with the title from the International Book list that you find the most interesting by April 7, 2026, 12pm ET.

Betsy Bird is the Collection Development Manager of Evanston Public Library and the former Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She is the author of several middle grade and picture books for kids, most recently POP! GOES THE NURSERY RHYME, illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi, out with Union Square.

She has also written several books for adults about children’s literature, including RACIAL LITERACY IN LIBRARIES, out this February. Betsy reviews for Kirkus and her industry site A Fuse #8 Production is hosted by School Library Journal. Betsy also runs the podcast Fuse 8 n’ Kate, where she and her sister debate whether or not certain picture books deserve to be called “classics”.