2024 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Kooky

This list of books was one of the most fun to pull together this month! It’s full of “kooky” titles a term I use with the utmost respect. I love to read books that are so far out there, I wonder, “How did the author ever come up with this?”

Many of the titles on this book list will have kids laughing out loud, shaking their heads, and most likely trying to explain an absolutely silly story to anyone who listens! If you’ve got a reluctant reader on your hands, I often find silly stories can help “break the ice” so to speak. They can show readers that reading itself doesn’t have to be a serious affair, rather one filled with fun and joy. Be sure to suggest one of these titles for a fun-filled reading session (they also make great read alouds!).

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2024 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Kooky

The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss

A determined 12-year-old girl bikes across the country to meet her idol. She’s ready for an adventure– but she can’t imagine all the surprises in store.

Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C.– and she likes it that way. But when her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way. Determined to prove she can make friends on her own, she sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend.

Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R. A. Spratt

The three Green children are cared for by a nanny pig. Yes, a pig–a fabulously sassy and impeccably dressed pig, as a matter of fact! With her insatiable urge to eat chocolate (and feed chocolate to everyone she loves), her high-flying spirit, and her unending sense of fun, Nanny Piggins takes Derrick, Samantha, and Michael on a year of surprises, yummy treats, and adventures they’ll never forget.

Finally, Something Mysterious by Doug Cornett

Paul Marconi has always thought that Bellwood was a strange town, but also a boring one. Not much for an eleven-year-old to do. Fires are burning nearby, Paul’s parents are obsessed with winning a bratwurst contest, and his best friend, one of the founding members of their only-child detective club, the One and Onlys, is about to acquire a younger sister, sort of undoing their whole reason for existing. But then! Hundreds of rubber duckies have appeared on the lawn of poor Mr. Babbage without any explanation. Finally! There is something that Paul and his friends can actually investigate.

In the face of all these bizarre occurrences, Paul is convinced that uncovering who deposited the duckies will finally bring some sense to what has become an upside-down world. Soon the three friends have a long list of suspects, all with their own motives, but no clear culprit. When everything comes to a head at the town’s annual Bellwood Bratwurst Bonanza, Paul discovers that some things don’t have an easy explanation and not every mystery can be solved.

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

“I bought the milk,” said my father. “I walked out of the corner shop, and heard a noise like this: t h u m m t h u m m. And I looked up and saw a huge silver disc hovering in the air above Marshall Road.”

“Hullo,” I said to myself. “That’s not something you see every day. And then something odd happened.”

Hyacinth and the Secrets Beneath by Jacob Sager Weinstein

Magic is real. History is a big, fat lie.

Hyacinth Hayward’s mother has just been kidnapped by lumpy gray monsters in post office uniforms. But why? Well, before Hyacinth moved from Illinois to London, she read up on the city’s history. Too bad for her. Because the books are wrong. The truth is, London was built on magical rivers, and all the major events in its past have been about people trying to control the magic. And her family is somehow tied to it.

In the chase to get her mom back, Hyacinth encounters a giant intelligent pig in a bathing suit, a boy with amnesia, an adorable tosher (whatever that is), a sarcastic old lady, and a very sketchy unicorn. Somehow Hyacinth has to figure out who to trust, so she can save her mom and, oh yeah, not cause a second Great Fire of London.

The Jolly Regina by Kara LeReau

The Bland Sisters eat tasteless oatmeal, rarely venture into bright sunlight, and read only Dr. Snoote’s Dictionary, because storybooks are just too thrilling. Together, they await the return of their parents, who left for an errand years ago and have never come back.

One day, a knock on the door leads to the Bland sisters’ kidnapping by an all-female band of pirates—but this is only the beginning of their escapades.

The Legend of Greg by Chris Rylander

Risk-averse Greg Belmont is content with being ordinary. He’s got a friend–that’s right, just one–at his fancy prep school, and a pretty cool dad. The problem is, Greg isn’t ordinary . . . he’s actually an honest-to-goodness, fantastical Dwarf!

He discovers the truth the day his dad brings home a gross new tea–one that awakens bizarre abilities in Greg. Then a murderous Bro-Troll kidnaps his dad and Greg is whisked away to the Underground, where Dwarves have lived for centuries right beneath the streets of Chicago.

With the help of some awesome new friends and a talking ax, Greg learns all about the history of the Dwarves, which has been marked with tales of epic failure since the dawn of time. However, the return of the magic they once wielded means big changes are afoot, escalating tensions with the Dwarves’ sworn enemy: the Elves.

The Nerviest Girl in the World by Melissa Wiley

Pearl lives on a ranch where her chores include collecting eggs and feeding ornery ostriches. She has three older brothers, who don’t coddle her at all. And she knows a thing or two about horses, too.

One day, Pearl’s brothers get cushy jobs doing stunts for this new form of entertainment called “moving pictures.” They’re the Daredevil Donnelly Brothers, a Death-Defying Cowboy Trio. Before she knows it, Pearl has stumbled into being a stunt girl herself–and dreams of becoming a star. The only problem is, her mother has no idea what she’s up to. And let’s just say she wouldn’t be too happy to find out that Pearl’s been jumping out of burning buildings in her spare time.

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln

On the day they are born, every Swift child is brought before the sacred Family Dictionary. They are given a name, and a definition. A definition it is assumed they will grow up to match.

Meet Shenanigan Swift: Little sister. Risk-taker. Mischief-maker.

Shenanigan is getting ready for the big Swift Family Reunion and plotting her next great scheme: hunting for Grand-Uncle Vile’s long-lost treasure. She’s excited to finally meet her arriving relatives—until one of them gives Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude a deadly shove down the stairs.

So what if everyone thinks she’ll never be more than a troublemaker, just because of her name? Shenanigan knows she can become whatever she wants, even a detective. And she’s determined to follow the twisty clues and catch the killer.

Tyrannosaurus Ralph by Nate Evans

Ralph is just trying to get home from school without getting picked on by the local bully.

He’s not trying to run smack into that bully. He’s also not trying to wake up hours later in the body of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And he’s DEFINITELY not trying to do battle in an alien arena in order to save Earth from the evil Cloberus Crunch.

Unfortunately for Ralph, this is exactly what happens.

Armed only with a new body (with very tiny arms) and his wits, Ralph is expected to not only defend himself and his planet in hand-to-hand combat with ferocious aliens, he must also navigate a new world filled with all sorts of creatures Ralph has never imagined, in which it can be difficult to tell friend from foe.

When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad

When Inge Maria arrives on the tiny island of Bornholm in Denmark to live with her grandmother, she’s not sure what to expect. Her grandmother is stern, the people on the island are strange, and children are supposed to be seen and not heard.   But no matter how hard Inge tries to be good, mischief has a way of finding her. Could it be that a bit of mischief is exactly what Grandmother and the people of Bornholm need? 

Wild Ride by Keith Calabrese 

The grownups are out-of-town, and for Charley Decker that means one thing: a last epic weekend with her older brother Greg before he leaves for college. Bring on the burgers, milkshakes, and movie marathons!

So when Greg ditches Charley for a date night downtown, she’s kind of crushed. Worse, he gets their mom’s boyfriend’s super-expensive, super-rare Mustang towed and needs Charley’s help to get it back. What’s an unsupervised seventh grader to do? Grab her best friends, sneak into the city, pull off the ultimate car heist, and then make Greg pay, of course!

Only now the Mustang has a new feature in the trunk: a stowaway named Mitch who’s guarding a world-changing secret. And a pair of seriously big, seriously scary dudes are after him.

What follows is an all-night race around the clock as Charley and her friends try to dodge the twin terrors, save Mitch, fix a sibling squabble…and get the Mustang home before morning!

2024 is my ninth year participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. This year, I chose as my theme: Adventurous Readers with a focus on providing book lists focused on all types of adventures for readers from birth to teens. Each letter of the alphabet will focus on different sub-genres or age groups and will provide twelve titles of books. This theme coincides well with the summer reading theme for many libraries which is “Adventure Begins at Your Library” and no matter what type of books the kids in your life like, there is sure to be something they’ll find interesting over the course of the month. Stop by daily to check out the new books and other posts that I’ll be sharing in April.