Humor & Comedy - Exodus Books

Store Location

You know a book's funny if you're reading it alone and laughing hysterically. Of course, the really great comic masterpieces are also deep reflections on humanity and life and death (like Huckleberry Finn or All Creatures Great and Small or Calvin & Hobbes). Frequently, though, you just need to guffaw, and the literary quality of the piece isn't quite as important as the laugh-factor.

Not that you want to read swill. Cheap laughs might be funny on the surface, but the jokes that actually say something are generally funnier than the ones that simply point and snicker. It's easy to think we're superior because we get the joke, but in reality a lot of modern comedy is no more than the absence of reverence. Real comedy is simply an incongruous presentation of a familiar idea that amuses with its absurdity while offering a new view.

Before you dismiss the need for humor on religious grounds (suggesting that Jesus is the Man of Sorrows, and so must we be in order to be like Him), remember that the "laughter is good medicine" image comes from the Bible (Proverbs 17:22), and that as the Creator of everything God invented laughter. He invented jokes. As the perfect man, Jesus probably told the best jokes ever.

We have a few of them—a rich person will enter heaven as easily as a camel getting through the eye of a needle, or the one about the Pharisee and the plebe who go into the temple at the same time to pray. Jesus clearly saw the absurdity of life (in both of the cases mentioned, the absurdity of human pride), and used it to direct people to the Author of Meaning.

Basically, laughter is really good and you should try it sometime. If you're a little rusty and need a boost, read a funny book: maybe the heartwarming but hysterical adventures of the Gilbreth clan in Cheaper by the Dozen, or the pure zaniness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or the heartwarming zaniness of Jeeves and Wooster. Whatever you do, smile more, frown less, and for goodness' sake take laughter seriously.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

Did you find this review helpful?

Parent Categories

Fiction & Literature

Fiction by Genre

Humor & Comedy

42 Items found Print

Active Filters:

6th grade (Ages 11-12),

Trade Paperback,

New Books & Materials

	Applewhites at Wits End by Stephanie S. Tolan Fir from HarperCollins for 4th-6th grade 2003 Newbery Honor book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.79
	Beezus and Ramona Ramona Collection Book 1 by Beverly Cleary Reissue from HarperTrophy for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Belles On Their Toes by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey from HarperCollins Family Stories for 4th-9th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $13.59
	Boy Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl from Puffin Books for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.64
	Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford from Puffin Books for 3rd-6th grade in Humor & Comedy (Location: FIC-COM) $7.64
	Cheaper By the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey from HarperCollins Family Stories for 4th-9th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $15.29
	Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath First Square Fish, May 2008 from Square Fish Publishing for 4th-6th grade 2002 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.79
	Eye of Zoltar Chronicles of Kazam Book 3 by Jasper Fforde from HMH Books for Young Readers for 5th-9th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.99
	Figgs & Phantoms by Ellen Raskin from Puffin Books for 3rd-6th grade 1975 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.79
	Flora & Ulysses The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo Reprint from Candlewick Press for 3rd-6th grade 2014 Newbery Medal winner in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.64
	Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks Reprint from Overlook Press for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $11.05
	Freddy the Detective by Walter R. Brooks, illustrated by Kurt Wiese from Overlook Press for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $11.89
	Good Old Archibald by Ethelyn M. Parkinson from Bethlehem Books for 3rd-7th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $12.71
	Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson (based on Louise Fitzhugh) Reprint from Yearling for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.79 $3.20 (1 in stock)
	Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Hidden Gallery Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book II by Maryrose Wood Revised from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $9.99
	Holes Holes Series #1 by Louis Sachar from Yearling for 4th-6th grade 1999 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $7.64
	Hoot by Carl Hiaasen from Ember for 4th-6th grade 2003 Newbery Honor Book in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $8.99
	Interrupted Tale Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book IV by Maryrose Wood Reprint from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Last Dragonslayer Chronicles of Kazam Book 1 by Jasper Fforde from HMH Books for Young Readers for 5th-9th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $6.79
	Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck from Puffin Books Humorous Family Stories for 4th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.64
	Long-Lost Home Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book VI by Maryrose Wood Reprint from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Series #1 by P. L. Travers from Harcourt Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Mexikid A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin from Dial Books for Young Readers for 5th-8th grade in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC) $12.74
	Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay from Houghton Mifflin Humor for 4th-8th grade in Humor & Comedy (Location: FIC-COM) $15.29
	Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race Lemoncello's Library #3 by Chris Grabenstein from Yearling in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $6.79
	Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $5.94
	Mysterious Howling Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book I by Maryrose Wood Reprint from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt from Clarion Books for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Pushcart War by Jean Merrill 50th Anniversary Edition from New York Review of Books Satire for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $11.04
	Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Ribsy by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Season of Gifts by Richard Peck Reprint from Puffin Books for 5th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.64
	Song of the Quarkbeast Chronicles of Kazam Book 2 by Jasper Fforde Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers for 5th-9th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Soup by Robert Newton Peck from Yearling for Grades 4th-7th in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $5.94
	Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan Fir from HarperCollins for 4th-6th grade 2003 Newbery Honor book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $5.94
	Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck from Puffin Books for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.64
	Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill from Sandpiper Books for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.49
	Unmapped Sea Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book V by Maryrose Wood Reprint from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $9.34
	Unseen Guest Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book III by Maryrose Wood Reprint from Balzer & Bray for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.49
	Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting from Yearling for 3rd-7th grade 1923 Newbery Medal winner in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.64
	Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck from Puffin Books Humorous Family Stories for 5th-9th grade 2001 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.64

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Connect