Have you found yourself being hit over the head with a banana? No? Well your child probably hasn’t made their way through The 13-Storey Treehouse. Then the 26-Storey, and so on.
Because banana hitting is completely normal in books like The 13-Storey Treehouse.
As is, solving mysteries with the help of a hot jam doughnut. (a personal favourite of mine although custard over jam for me).
So, after the 13-Storey, your child was probably straight onto the 39, the 52, the 65, right? And now they’ve run out and are looking for what’s next?
Well, if you’re after books like The 13-Storey Treehouse, you’re in the right place.
These are five books I’d hand a Treehouse fan without a second thought. They all live on the funny books shelf, ready to go.
What a Treehouse kid is really after
It’s not just that these are funny. It’s the treehouse world itself.
Andy and Terry have got a marshmallow machine that follows them about and fires marshmallows straight into their mouths (any kid’s dream), a see-through swimming pool, and a tank of actual man-eating sharks.
They’re meant to be writing a book and they get precisely nowhere. Because they’re too busy having fun. Which, who can blame them?
This combination is what I went looking for in the five below. Books where the drawings carry half the jokes and the silliness never lets up.
Five books like The 13-Storey Treehouse to try next
Stick Dog Gets the Tacos
Stick Dog Gets the Tacos
Stick Dog and his squad of strays are starving. And a family in the park is about to tuck into a feast of tacos, tortilla chips and guacamole.
The whole book is Stick Dog and his dopey, drooling mates plotting how to nab the food before anyone notices. (sounds like a dog I know well…)
The pictures are rough stick-figure scribbles, which really complement the jokes. Tom Watson has written a whole run of these, so a Stick Dog fan won’t be short of the next one.
Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!
Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!
A zebra gets hauled out of his African watering hole and dropped slap bang into the roar of the Roman Colosseum.
Now Julius and his motley crew of animal mates have to train up as gladiators and win over the Roman crowd, or else.
Think Madagascar crossed with Gladiator, stuffed with cartoons by Gary Northfield. A good option for the slightly older Treehouse reader who wants a bit more story with the silliness.
The Day I Started a Mega Robot Invasion
The Day I Started a Mega Robot Invasion
A nine-year-old inventor is already having the worst day of her life. Then her tinkering tips over into a full-blown mega-robot invasion.
It’s fast and it’s barmy, exactly the gadgets-and-chaos combination a Treehouse fan will enjoy. And the inventor saving the day is a girl, which is a nice change in a pile of funny books.
By Tom McLaughlin, who also does the pictures.
Dog Diaries: Mission Impawsible
Dog Diaries: Mission Impawsible
Junior the dog has been left behind while his pet humans swan off on holiday, and he is NOT happy about it.
He tells the whole sorry tale himself, from surviving on icky vegetables to his top-secret plan to steal a pile of hamburgers.
It’s a doodle-packed diary with a cracking narrator, by Steven Butler and James Patterson. One for the younger Treehouse reader who likes a bit of cheekiness.
Cows in Action: The Ter-moo-nators
Cows in Action – The Ter-moo-nators
Professor McMoo is a genius cow. He invents a time machine, and that’s exactly when a robo-cow Ter-moo-nator turns up to mess with history.
So McMoo and his sidekicks Pat and Bo, secret agents of the C.I.A. (Cows In Action, obviously), have to hop through time to put it right. The dungeons of Henry VIII included.
The puns are non-stop and Steve Cole has written stacks of these, so a time-travel-loving reader is sorted for ages.
A few more to keep them going
If they want their funny with total mayhem, Pamela Butchart has tonnes. Books like There’s a Yeti in the Playground! and The Spy Who Loved School Dinners are all big drama over small things, with cartoons throughout.
And if they haven’t met Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s other Treehouse books yet, there are loads more floors to climb.
For more from the same shelf, our books like Tom Gates list and our what to read after Diary of a Wimpy Kid piece both line up more of the same.
Where Little Reads comes in
Every book here is one I’ve picked by hand, and they’re all sitting in the Little Reads app right now alongside the rest of the funny shelf.
No ads, no pop-ups, just books.
One thing to flag though. Little Reads doesn’t teach reading. There’s no phonics and no levels to climb. It’s built for kids who already love a book and just want the next one.
So if you’ve got a Treehouse fan who finishes one and is straight onto the next, that’s exactly who it’s for. If your child is only just getting going as a reader, something built for that will do more for them right now.
You can start free with a Little Reads account (100+ books), and the full 3,000+ library is £7.99 a month with a 7-day free trial if you want the lot.
And if it’s the treehouse itself your child loved, take a look at books like Magic Tree House next.