On September 13th, children all over the World will celebrate Roald Dahl Day. Though this beloved children's author, who penned classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BFG and James and the Giant Peach, died 18 years ago, his books remain as popular among young readers today, as they were when first published.

As a tribute to Mr. Dahl, Michael Rosen, a fellow author, with 140 titles to his name, is sponsoring the first Roald Dahl Funny Prize, to highlight and honor the funniest children's books.

Rosen said he wanted to highlight this often ignored category and put the 'fun' back into children's reading. He said that he and his team of four judges, which included Roald Dahl's granddaughter, writer Sophie Dahl, had a 'giggly' time going through the hundreds of submissions they received since the contest was announced in mid-May.

The six finalists in each category - Funny Books for Six And Under and Funny Books for Kids Seven through 14 Years, were announced earlier this week to tie in with the third Roald Dahl day celebrations and are as follows:

Six and Under Finalists

  • Stick Man, by Julia Donaldson, Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
  • Elephant Wellyphant, by Nick Sharratt
  • The Great Paper Caper, by Oliver Jeffers
  • The Witch's Children Go to School, by Ursula Jones
  • There's an Ouch in my Pouch, by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Gary Parsons
  • Manfred the Baddie, by John Fardell

Seven To Fourteen Years Finalists

  • Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear, by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman
  • Paddington Here and Now, by Michael Bone, illustrated by RW Alley
  • Stop in the Name of Pants, by Louise Rennison
  • Cosmic, by Frank Cotrell Boyce
  • Aliens don't eat dog food, by Dinah Capparucci
  • Urgum and the Goo Goo Bah!, by Kjartan Poskitt, illustrated by Phillip Reeve

The two final winners, who will each receive $5,000 USD, will be announced on November 13th, 2008. However, since neither libraries nor bookshops, categorize funny books for children separately, this entire list is a great resource for kids, parents and educators searching for books that will provide some giggles. Now if we could only find a list this great for adults!