Short, funny books for 9yo struggling reader?

Billy Bonkers by Giles Andreae might be worth a try.

The book which got my daughter into reading was The Girls' Book - How to be the best at Everything'.

The Horrible Histories and Horrible Science annuals are very good and easier to read than their paperback books. Defo worth a try for Christmas.

Second Ottoline and Fortunately the Milk.

The Ahlbergs' Gaskitt stories (the Cat who Got Carried Away and a couple of others) are good easy readers.

Lemony Snicket? A series of a Unfortunate events.

Have you tried heavily illustrated in 3 colour books? They're a great bridge between picture books and fiction. Have a look at...

Hubble Bubble - Granny's in trouble by Tracy Corderoy and Joe Berger.

Foxy Tales by Caryl Hart and Alex T Smith.

Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah Mcantyre.

I feel your pain a bit. Weirdly my dd is ahead in literacy but shows a big reluctance in reading at home. She's rejected a huge amount of books I've tried to tempt her with. I've backed off now and at 9, she's slowly slowly finding one of two titles she's interested in.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home issue a series of books with the name of the dog or cat as a title. For example, Max, Coco, Snowy, Angel. I think, but not sure, they are written by Sarah Hawkins. I volunteer in a school library, and the girls often move onto these books when they have had enough of Rainbow Fairies!

Would also second the idea of a joke book.

Hi! I was wondering what to get my niece this Christmas and was scouring the top 100 and came across a funny looking new one called Nightmare on Elf Street. Will be perfect for Annie who's read just about everything!

Have you tried Princess Ponies by Chloe Ryder? I know the person who wrote them and they are a riproaring tale of adventure, wrapped up in princesses and ponies (& pink, of course). They seem to be pretty popular. The author was a struggling reader too, so knows how to spin a yarn (-;

I second the Anne Fine suggestion. A particularly funny one is The More The Merrier, quite a short book about the horrors of Christmas Day and extended families.

my eldest loves Holly Webb stuff, Maisie Hitchins as well as all the animal ones.

Revolting rhymes?
Puffin book of nonsense verse
Dd's latest favourite stories are Agatha Parrot ones, cover less cartoony than Penny Dreadful
The Danger Zone books are like easier versions of Horrible histories, all called "avoid being a....."

Jeff the witch's chef is a funny short rhyming book (hints of Hansel & Gretel).

The incredible diary of pig went down well with DS age9.
Mudpuddle farm series by Michael Morpurgo - the easiest series by him with some illustrations but not babyish, the humour is quite dry.

The Roal Dahl audiobooks are lovely and could get her enthusiastic- could she read along with those? It would also help her concentration span.

Mine just read Nina and the Magical Carnival, by Madhvi Ramani - it's short and appeals to girls - carnival in Brazil, costumes and magic and all that.

Geronimo stilton and thea stilton are comic-like, but chapter books.
Andy griffiths - treehouse series very funny and appeals to older readers but is simple to read. Also bad book (2 of them?) Is funny, easy read
Wimpy kid books
My dd loves ej12 spy books, not sure how difficult they are to read

Suddenly the milk by Neil Gaiman - short, funny, ridiculous.

DS loves the diary of a wimpy kid books.

My ds loved the Geronimo Stilton books - they are Italian cartoons, about mice and their adventures, well-translated into English with some great jokes, and chees-based puns. They may be bit young but are worth looking at for the humour. Can be difficult to track down.

You could try a joke book in her Christmas stocking.

The Giggler Treatment

I assume that Diary of a Wimpy Kid would be too cartoony?

Do you still read to her? Sometimes it can help to take the pressure off a bit, and just get her to enjoy the stories. Could you try reading David Walliams aloud? If she enjoys it, it might just be enough to spur her on.

www.amazon.co.uk/Youre-Bad-Man-Mr-Gum/dp/1405223103

How about the Mr Gum series? They're quite funny and easy to read - not too many words on a page.

If she likes poetry i would focus there for now. There are some great children's anthologies, especially humorous ones.

Other than that, book wise I would try
Barrington Stoke's books.
Anne Fine (angel of nitshill road)
The Ramona Quimby series
David Walliams books.

I second non fiction - definitely helped DS become more interested in reading, from there he switched back to fiction. He liked the books that were more like encyclopedias with pictures that he could dip in and out of especially if it was a subject he liked - for him it was history. Maybe worth exploring - we took him to a library (without younger sibling about to focus on him) and then talked through different types of books. Obviously he'd been to book shops and libraries but that trip/chat seemed to be a real eye opener in terms of why you would want to read which spurred him on to practise