Books like Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude
By Kevin O'Malley
For the kid who argues about whose turn it is to pick the game, this is the fight over who gets to be the hero, told as a story. Silly, competitive, laugh-out-loud, full of interruptions and one-upping.
Same nonsense-word bounce as the motorcycle dude story, but Toddle Waddle by Julia Donaldson keeps it simple enough for the youngest sibling to join in too.
Same tug-of-war over who tells the story right, but Zip Zap Wickety Wack by Matthew Diffee turns the fight into made-up nonsense words instead of a fairy tale.
Fairy tale rivalry becomes classroom rivalry. How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen puts giant dinosaurs in the desks and lets the bad behavior get the biggest laughs.
Much simpler and much shorter than Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton, but the same rhyming bounce that makes a toddler want the page again.
The giant only ever gets talked about here, but David's Father by Robert Munsch still gets the same wide-eyed exaggeration going.
The rhyme rolls along the same way, but Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen sends its hero flying off a whale's back instead of fighting a giant.
If your kid laughed at the giant and the sword, wait for the gassy donkey stuck in a mole hole in My Smelly Ass: Kids Funny Bedtime Story Picture Book by Lee Pong Wong.
A bumbling crew of animal pirates sets sail with orders to capture every letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, or else walk the plank.
Less plot, more pure sound. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss skips the story argument entirely and just hands your kid every noise to copy.
Same classroom chaos and disagreement over what's actually happening, except in Mr. S by Monica Arnaldo the mystery is a sandwich who might be the teacher.
If the joy is in the escalating nonsense of a story getting bigger and sillier, Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin does that with salsa instead of swords.
Less back-and-forth negotiating a plot, more your kid yelling one word at a bird. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems strips the interruption game down to its bones.
