Guest Author - Lucinda Moriarty

Q: What time is it when an elephant sits on the fence?
A: Time to get a new fence.

Do you remember the first book that made you laugh out loud? Mine was a compilation of elephant jokes. It was not a great work of art, but I loved it. And I still know how to tell if an elephant has been in the refrigerator.

The value of humor in children’s literature is undeniable. Material that makes children laugh doesn’t necessarily have to be in the form of a joke, either. Successful authors tap into their lighthearted nature to create story-lines and comedic characters that make their books impossible to forget.

But how do you put the funny into your own children’s book? First you need to know what makes children laugh.

Very young readers may not understand what incongruity is, but they know it is funny when the words in a story say one thing and the pictures say another. Children find this absurdity hilarious. If you want to incorporate humor into your picture book, consider how you might utilize illustrations to create humorous opposition to your words.

Using repetition can boost the humor in your story. Take for example, “Green Eggs and Ham,” by Dr. Seuss. Having a Sam-I-Am foist the outrageously distasteful dish onto his friend is funny. But the humor in the situation is propelled to another level by the repetitive attempts by Sam. The more attempts Sam makes, the funnier the story becomes.

As readers become more sophisticated, humor is accomplished by using multiple comedic triggers simultaneously. Familiarity, embarrassment, and superiority are all ingredients for more complex comedic outcomes.

“Anastasia Krupnik,” by Lois Lowry employs this multi-level method of creating humor. In one chapter, Anastasia has a crush on Washburn Cummings and gives herself a special hairdo hoping to impress him. Although she thinks her hair is a hit, the reader knows she is mistaken. Her hair is disastrous as Washburn coldly points out. Readers relate to this situation as both familiar and embarrassing.

A complete analysis of humor could fill an entire book – in fact, there are several available at your local library or bookseller. Injecting a little humor could give your story the lift it needs to move from a good book to a great one.

Q: How do you stop an elephant from charging?
A: Take away his credit cards.