Twelve 'whizzy, crazy, hilarious' titles on Lollies shortlist

Hodder Children's Books has two titles among the 12 "whizzy, crazy, hilarious" stories in the running for the 2017 Laugh Out Loud Awards, aka the Lollies.

Created by children's publisher Scholastic to celebrate the funniest children’s books, the Lollies are awarded in three categories: Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book, Best Laugh Out Loud Book for six to eights and Best Laugh Out Loud Book for nine to 13s.

Shortlisted for Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book are Oi Dog by Kes Gray and Jim Field (Hodder Children’s Books), Eat Your People by Lou Kuenzler and David Wojtowycz (Orchard Books), Prince of Pants by Alan Macdonald and Sarah McIntyre (Scholastic) and Danny McGee Drinks the Sea by Andy Stanton and Neal Layton (Hodder Children’s Books).

Meanwhile, Thimble Monkey Superstar by Jon Blake and Martin Chatterton (Firefly Press), Hamish and the Neverpeople by Danny Wallace and Jamie Littler (Simon and Schuster), Eddy Stone and the Epic Holiday Mash-Up by Simon Cherry (Usborne) and Future Ratboy and the Invasion of the Nom Noms by Jim Smith (Egmont) have been shortlisted for the Best Laugh Out Loud Book for six-to-eight year olds.

Up for the Best Laugh Out Loud Book for nine to 13 year olds are I Don't Like Poetry by Joshua Seigal (Bloomsbury), The Best Medicine by Christine Hamil (Little Island Books), My Gym Teacher is an Alien Overlord by David Solomons and Laura Ellen Anderson (Nosy Crow), and AniMalcolm by David Baddiel and Jim Field (Harper Collins).

Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former children’s laureate, said: “This is a collection of 12 whizzy, crazy, hilarious books. They are guaranteed to tickle. Parents and teachers wondering how to keep your children interested in reading, why not start here? And you can always start them off by reading them out loud - funny voices an' all!"

Rosen and his judging panel, consisting of Nicolette Jones, journalist and Sunday Times children’s book editor; and Katie Thistleton, presenter and host of the CBBC Children’s Book Club, were tasked with making the selected shortlist from over 130 books submitted by children’s publishers.

The winning book in each category will be decided solely by children’s votes, with schools and parents encouraged to help kids get involved and vote via the Lollies website or via the Scholastic channel on the PopJam app.

The winning books will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in January 2018.

You can read our interview with judges Michael Rosen and Nicolette Jones here.