we all know that his books know how to generate all the feelings. While we love a good, cathartic, and ugly cry, what we really need these days is an escape. a distraction. obviously, that means laughter! what better way to laugh than with some funny books?
You are reading: Comedy books for young adults
From the funniest trio of storytellers we know (Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows) to the sarcastic hilarity of Ben Philippe’s field guide, these hilarious novels make us lose our minds no matter how many times we read them. So in honor of these authors and more, we’ve got a list of hilarious books that are sure to make you laugh so hard you’ll cry!
books guaranteed to make you laugh
19 funny books
1. not my problem by ciara smyth
aideen has a lot of problems she can’t solve. But when he comes across the overachiever Meabh Kowalska having a total meltdown, he sees one he can actually fix. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurricular activities. Aideen volunteers to help, pushing her down the stairs.
problem? meabh’s sprained ankle resolved is the perfect excuse to shed your overwhelming schedule. But when one of her classmates finds out about her little plan, more “clients” start asking for Aideen’s “help”, kicking off a semester of exchanged favors, ill-advised antics, and even an unexpected chance at love. /p>
Fixing other people’s problems won’t solve yours. but it could be the push aideen needs to get started.
- don’t buy my problem now!
2. this will be funny someday by katie henry
Sixteen-year-old Izzy is used to keeping her thoughts to herself—in school, where her boyfriend does the talking for her, and at home, where it’s impossible to compete with her older siblings and high-powered parents.
When he mistakenly walks into a stand-up club and performs, the experience is surprisingly cathartic. After the show, he meets Mo, an aspiring comedian who is everything Izzy isn’t: bold, confident, comfortable in his skin. mo invites izzy to join his group of friends and introduces her to the chicago open mic scene.
the only problem? her new friends are college students and izzy tells them that she is too. Now Izzy, the dutiful daughter and model student, sneaks out to perform live with her comedian friends. Her controlling boyfriend becomes suspicious and her ex-best friend knows something is up.
but izzy loves comedy and this newfound freedom. As their two parallel lives collide, in the most hilarious way, Izzy must choose to hide what she really wants and who she really is, or finally stand up for real.
- buying this will be fun someday now!
3. my opposite mary by cynthia hand, brodi ashton, and jodi meadows
📚 This is the companion to: My Lady Jane
welcome to renaissance france, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?
mary is the queen of scotland and the jewel of the french court. except when she is a mouse. yes, reader, mary is an eðian (shapeshifter) in a realm where truths rule. she’s a secret that could cost you a head or a tail.
Fortunately, Mary has a confidant in her fiancé, Francis. But things in the golden court take a treacherous turn after the king meets a suspicious end. Pushed to the throne, Maria and Francisco face a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps and betrayal. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.
- buy my counter mary now!
4. give me everything you have by iva-marie palmer
It’s 1979—the age of roller skates and feathered bangs, Charlie’s Angels and Saturday Night Fever—and Susan Klintock is a junior in high school with a lot of sexual fantasies… but not a lot of sexual experience. No boy—at least not any she knows—has been worth taking a shot on.
That is, until Bobby Mcmann arrives.
Bobby is smart, he’s charming… and he’s also the coach of the new girls’ soccer team. Sure, he’s totally, 100 percent, completely off limits. Sure, Susan doesn’t stand a chance. But that doesn’t mean he can’t try out to get the team closer to him, and Susan Klintock has always liked a challenge.
Between endless workouts and grueling practices, Susan discovers something else: She just might love soccer. But being part of the first girls’ team in school means facing other challenges. As friendships change, she discovers that her true passions may be in places she didn’t expect when the season began, and that discovering who she is will mean taking risks, both on and off the court.
- buy and give me everything you have now!
5. the field guide for the american adolescent by ben philippe
Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas.
Stucked into a brand new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount in the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the cheerleaders, the jocks, the loners, and even the manic pixie of dreams. Making lots of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least entertain himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs.
However, against all odds, those tags soon become real people for Norris… like lonely Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Beta Cheerleader Madison, who is so nice she has to be a trap. not to mention aarti, the girl of the manic goblins’ dreams, who could, in fact, be a real love interest in the making.
But on prom night, Norris messes everything up perfectly. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes that it might be time to stop hiding behind his sarcastic opinions and start living his life, along with the people who have found their way to his heart. of him.
- Buy The American Teen’s Practical Guide Now!
6. jay’s gay agenda by jason june
There’s one thing Jay Collier knows for sure: He’s a statistical anomaly as the only gay boy in his small rural Washington town. While all of his friends can’t stop talking about his straight hookups and relationships, Jay can only daydream about his first time, compiling a romantic to-do list of all the things he hopes to experience one day: the gay agenda of him.
See Also: The reckoning with Dr. Seuss&x27 racist imagery has been years in the making
Then, against all odds, Jay’s family moves to Seattle and he begins his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time, Jay feels that he has found the place where he truly belongs. But as Jay begins to cross items off his list, he soon finds himself torn between his heart and his hormones, between his old friends and his new ones. . . Because after all, life and love don’t always go according to plan.
- shop jay’s gay agenda now!
7. Once upon a time there was a quinceañera by monica gomez-hira
Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Jane the Virgin, this immediately accessible and irresistibly fun #ownvoices rom-com debut will spin readers into an unforgettable summer of late-night dancing, broken hearts, second chances, and telenovela twists.
carmen aguilar just wants to make her happiness come true forever. Except apparently “happily ever after” for Carmen involves being stuck on an unpaid summer internship. Now she has to act like a party princess! in a party dress. during the summer. in miami.
good. Except that’s just the first misfortune in what’s turning into a summer of total disaster.
But if Carmen can manage to dance in the scorching heat, fend off such a woefully attractive ex, and stop her bratty cousin from ruining her own Quinceañera, Carmen might be happily ever after after all.
- buy a quinceañera now!
8. becky albertalli’s simonverse series
Welcome to the “Simonverse”—three interconnected novels full of heart and humor, romance and friendship, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Becky Albertalli.
simon vs. the agenda of homo sapiens
Simon Spier, sixteen and not so openly gay, prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of coming out into the open.
the advantage of not being reciprocated
molly peskin-suso knows all about unrequited love. she can’t bear the thought of rejection, so she is careful. fat girls always have to be careful. There’s only one problem: Molly’s lovable co-worker, Reid.
leah out of the ordinary
leah burke doesn’t know what to do when her solid group of friends begins to fracture near the end of senior year. It’s especially hard when she realizes that she might be in love with one of them.
and don’t miss love, creekwood, the simonverse epilogue novel!
- buy the simonverse novels now!
9. montage of falling in love with ciara smyth
Two girls embark on a summer of montage-worthy dates (with a few strings attached) in this hilarious and heartfelt lesbian rom-com that’s perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han.
saoirse clarke, a cynical seventeen year old, is not looking for a relationship. But when she meets mischievous Ruby, that rule goes away. something like that.
because ruby has an escape in mind: a summer of the best cliché movie cut dates, with a definitive end in the fall, no broken hearts, no messy breakups. It would be the perfect plan, if they didn’t forget one thing about the falling in love montage: by the time it ends, the characters have fallen in love…for real.
- buy the crush montage now!
10. my lady jane by cynthia hand, brodi ashton and jodi meadows
In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.
At sixteen, Lady Jane Gray is about to be married to a stranger and caught up in a plot to steal the throne from her cousin, King Edward. But those petty problems are nothing for Jane to worry about. jane becomes queen of england.
As if that could go wrong.
- buy my lady jane now!
11. heretics anonymous by katie henry
Put an atheist in a strict Catholic school? Expect comedy, chaos, and an Inquisition. The Breakfast Club meets Saved! in debut author Katie Henry’s hilarious novel about a band of misfits who set out to challenge their school, one nun at a time. Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Robyn Schneider.
when michael walks through the gates of the catholic school, things can’t get any worse. his dad just made the family move again and michael needs a friend. When a girl challenges her teacher in class, Michael thinks she might have found one, and a fellow atheist at that. Only this girl, Lucy, is not just Catholic. . . she wants to be a priest.
lucy introduces michael to another st. Clare’s outcasts, and he officially joins Heretics Anonymous, where he can be an atheist, Lucy can be an outspoken feminist, Avi can be Jewish and gay, Max can wear whatever she wants, and Eden can practice paganism.
michael encourages heretics to go from a secret society to rebels with the intention of exposing the hypocrisies of the school, one trick at a time. But when Michael takes a mission too far, putting the other Heretics at risk, he must decide whether to fight for his own freedom or trust in faith, whatever that means, in God, his friends, or himself.
- buy anonymous heretics
12. katy loutzenhiser’s least likely girl
See Also: Preservation – Drying a wet book
gretchen has always been more of a “less likely” than a “more likely” girl. So how does she somehow find herself living every trope of her favorite rom-coms? . . ?
Best Friend in Love: Why is it suddenly so hard to act normal around your childhood best friend, Samuel? It must be time for a—
Makeover (!): Black leather pants and a bit of red lipstick are apparently enough to give Gretchen the bravado to pull off an impromptu set at a comedy club and catch the attention of —
the roguish bad boy: jeremy, the handsome young comic who thinks his name is sabrina. could be—
the perfect cover: a way for gretchen to escape her new fun girl alter ego and find out who she really is and what she really wants. But as romantic comedies have taught her, leading a double life can only last so long. . . .
- buy Least Likely Girl now!
13. nimona by nd stevenson
Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from ND Stevenson.
nimona is a hotheaded young shapeshifter with a flair for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Your mission: Prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his friends in the institution of law enforcement and heroic deeds are not the heroes everyone thinks they are.
But when small acts of mischief escalate into a fierce battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side could be more dangerous than he’s willing to admit.
- buy nimona now!
14. not pregnant by jenni hendriks and ted caplan
Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she’d want to fail a test—that is, until she finds herself staring at a piece of plastic with two solid pink lines. With a college-bound future now disappearing before her eyes, Veronica considers a decision she never imagined she’d have to make: an abortion.
There’s just one catch: the closest place to get one is over nine hundred miles away. With conservative parents, a less-than-optimal boyfriend, and no car, Veronica turns to the one person who won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, a legendary misfit at Jefferson High and Veronica’s former best friend.
what could go wrong? Not much, aside from three days of stolen cars, crazed ex-boyfriends, aliens, ferret naps, and the betrayal of a broken friendship that can’t be overcome. Under the starry skies of the Southwest, Veronica and Bailey discover that sometimes the most important choice is who your friends are.
- shop pregnancy free now!
15. last chance books by kelsey rodkey
Nothing will stop Madeline Moore from taking over her family’s independent bookstore after college. nothing, that is, until a bookstore chain called prologue opens across the street and threatens to close them.
madeline sets out to demolish the competition, but the guy who works on prologue seems determined to ruin her life. not only is he taking clients from her, but he has the incredible audacity to be… extremely cute.
but that doesn’t matter. jasper is the enemy and will be destroyed. after all, all’s fair in love and war (from books).
- buy last chance books now!
16. the life and times (medieval) of kit sweetly by jamie copian
Working as a wench―i.e. waitress―at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.
Company policy allows only men to be gentlemen. so when kit takes the place of his brother and reveals his identity at the end of the show, he rises to internet fame and has a lot of trouble with management. but the knight girl will not go down without a fight. as other girls join the search for her, an outcry forms. In a joust before the castle executives, they will prove that gender restrictions must remain medieval, if they don’t get fired first.
- buy kit (medieval) life and times sweetly now!
18. hot dog girl by jennifer dugan
Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:
• got a job at magic castle playland. . . like a giant dancing hot dog. • His crush, dreamy diving pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the princess of the park. But Lou has never liked anyone, boy or other, that much before, and now she wants a chance at happily ever after. • His best friend, Seeley, the carousel attendant, has always been up for anything, but she definitely disagrees when it comes to Lou’s quest to find the perfect girl or Lou’s plan to get closer. to nick. • And it turns out that this will be his last summer in Magic Castle Playland, unless he can find a way to keep it from closing.
Jennifer Dugan’s brilliant coming-of-age queer romantic debut stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog and a carousel operator who find love – and themselves – in unexpected people and unforgettable places.
- buy hot dog girl now!
19. sheba karim’s wonderful mirza girls
Gilmore Girls meets vibrant New Delhi in this thoughtful and hilarious new novel about a teen facing family expectations, relationship complications, and hidden secrets in a new country.
To cure her post-senior depression, made worse by the loss of her aunt Sonia, Noreen decides to follow her mother on a gap year trip to New Delhi, hoping that India can ease her pain and regain her happiness. voice.
In the world’s most polluted city, Noreen soon meets the kind and handsome Kabir, who introduces her to the wonders of this magical and complicated place. Along with Bollywood celebrities, 14th-century ruins, karaoke parties and Sufi saints, with Kabir’s help, Noreen discovers new meanings for home.
But when a family scandal erupts, Noreen and Kabir must confront complex questions in their own relationship: what does it really mean to support someone, and what are the limits of love?
- shop the wonderful mirza girls now!
What are some other funny books that have made you laugh? let us know!