Author Profile
Judi Barrett
16 Books
Judi Barrett is an American children's author best known for writing imaginative and highly humorous picture books. Her most famous work is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, created alongside illustrator Ron Barrett. Her stories often turn everyday ideas into playful, absurd situations that deeply appeal to young readers.
Before Santa belonged to the whole world, he was a very unusual boy growing up in Cincinnati. His first words sounded suspiciously like “ho ho ho,” he loved his stuffed reindeer, and by the time he was small, he already looked as if he might be practicing for a very special job.
His parents try to give him an ordinary childhood, complete with music lessons, baseball, and chores. But Santa’s jolly habits keep shining through. Soon he is making lists, checking them carefully, and finding ways to bring joy to children near and far.
Told with playful humor and a pretend “family scrapbook” feel, this picture book gives young readers a funny, warm origin story for the boy who grew into Santa Claus.
6-8 Years
48 Pages
A frog in a shirt? A crab in something delicate? A penguin in formalwear? This very silly picture book makes a strong case that animals are better off without human clothes.
In each scene, a new animal meets a new wardrobe problem, and the joke is easy to spot before the words even finish. Young readers can enjoy the quick, clever text while lingering over Ron Barrett’s detailed illustrations, where every hat, sleeve, button, and hemline becomes part of the fun.
Perfect for readers who like animal humor, visual jokes, and books that invite laughter on every page, this follow-up to Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing celebrates the wonderful absurdity of imagining animals dressed like people.
6-8 Years
38 Pages
Which witch is the one you need to find? A witch with a broom, a witch with a balloon, a witch near the moon, or a witch doing something even sillier waits on every page.
This playful picture book turns rhyming clues into a seek-and-find game. Young readers listen closely, look carefully, and use the pictures to match each funny question with the right witch. The rhymes are simple enough to join in, while the crowded, colorful scenes invite careful noticing and rereading.
Full of wordplay, Halloween fun, and goofy witchy surprises, Which Witch is Which? is a lively choice for children who enjoy riddles, rhymes, and spotting the answer before the page turns.
6-8 Years
33 Pages
Pie is falling from the sky, and the food-weather fun of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs heads into another wonderfully strange adventure.
Planet of the Pies brings young readers back to a world where meals can arrive in the most surprising ways. With its comic food disasters, big visual humor, and connection to Judi Barrett’s beloved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs universe, this story is made for readers who like their adventures a little messy and very funny.
The book’s short, lively style makes it approachable for children moving through picture books and illustrated fiction, while the playful premise gives older readers a quick, goofy read filled with imagination, food, and impossible weather.
6-8 Years
9-12 Years
32 Pages
Old MacDonald does not need a barn. He has an apartment house.
In the middle of the city, this inventive building superintendent begins turning rooms, closets, kitchens, and bathrooms into places for crops and animals. Cabbages spread, carrots appear overhead, and the apartment house becomes more like a farm with every floor. It is a wonderfully ridiculous idea, especially once the building’s owner comes to collect the rent.
Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House is a funny picture book about imagination, city life, and a very unusual kind of farming. Young readers who enjoy offbeat humor will have fun seeing how far one person’s big idea can grow. The story also offers a playful look at vegetables, resourcefulness, and what happens when a familiar song gets a clever urban twist.
6-8 Years
9-12 Years
32 Pages
A postcard from Grandpa sends Kate’s imagination back to Chewandswallow, the land where food once fell from the sky. Soon she and Henry are flying through a dreamlike world of giant pickles, enormous sandwiches, leafy green landscapes, and food big enough to need serious transportation.
This sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs keeps the same playful mix of food, weather, and tall-tale adventure, but it also adds a wider view of what might happen to all that extra food. The pictures are packed with strange, funny details, giving readers plenty to notice as the journey unfolds.
Pickles to Pittsburgh is a lively picture book for kids who like imaginative places, giant-food humor, and stories that feel almost like a dream. It is especially appealing to readers who want another trip into the deliciously strange world of Chewandswallow.
6-8 Years
9-12 Years
32 Pages
The Town of Left and the Town of Right are divided by a dotted yellow line, guarded by knights with a very strange supply problem: their only ammunition is marshmallows.
When someone crosses the line, the situation quickly turns into a sticky, silly spectacle. Marshmallows fly, rules begin to look ridiculous, and the two towns have to face the question at the center of all the chaos: why were they separated in the first place?
The Marshmallow Incident is a zany picture book with wordplay, visual humor, and a gentle message about division and friendship. It is a good fit for readers who enjoy absurd conflicts, comic knights, and stories where a big problem is handled in the most unexpected way possible. Beneath the silliness, the book gives children an accessible way to think about fairness, difference, and getting along.
6-8 Years
9-12 Years
36 Pages
A fish trying to behave like a person? A sheep doing something deeply silly? A panda with very human habits? This comic picture book imagines animals copying people and shows why the results are wonderfully absurd.
Each page turns a simple idea into a visual joke. The short, direct text gives young readers an easy path into the humor, while Ron Barrett’s detailed illustrations make the situations even funnier. Children can laugh at the impossible scenes while noticing how animals and people are different in clever, unexpected ways.
Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People is a playful companion to Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing. It is a strong choice for readers who enjoy animal books, silly comparisons, and picture books where the funniest part may be hiding in the illustration.
6-8 Years
32 Pages
The alphabet is not behaving quietly here. A is not just for apple; it comes with avalanches of A words. C arrives in crowds, D appears by the dozen, and each letter invites you to search, notice, and laugh your way through a busy world of words.
This playful picture book turns alphabet learning into a visual hunt. The alliteration is big, bouncy, and sometimes wonderfully ridiculous, while the detailed illustrations reward careful readers who like to spot hidden objects and discover new vocabulary.
For kids who already know their ABCs but are ready for richer wordplay, An Excessive Alphabet offers a clever, high-energy journey from A to Z. It works especially well for curious readers who enjoy language, puzzles, and picture books that can be explored again and again.
6-8 Years
9-12 Years
40 Pages
The world is full of the quietest, silliest, smelliest, wiggliest things you can possibly imagine, and this book is ready to name them all in the most ridiculous ways.
A skating snake, a wind-surfing ant, a pizza-loving dragon, and other wild examples help readers explore superlatives: words that describe the “most” of something. Each page stretches an ordinary idea into an outrageous picture, making language feel playful instead of like a lesson.
With Judi Barrett’s offbeat humor and John Nickle’s energetic illustrations, The Things that are Most in the World is a funny picture book for children who enjoy big words, surprising comparisons, and pictures that get stranger the longer you look.
6-8 Years
36 Pages
and Other Things Not to Do
Some advice is too silly to ignore: never sit next to a porcupine on the subway, never hold hands with a lobster, and definitely never take a shark to the dentist.
This funny picture book is built as a list of animal situations that should probably never happen. Each warning becomes more ridiculous than the last, giving readers plenty to laugh about as familiar animals turn up in very unsuitable places. The joke is easy to understand, but the illustrations add extra surprises for careful eyes.
Never Take a Shark to the Dentist is a playful read-aloud for children who enjoy absurd humor, animal mishaps, and imagining exactly why some ideas are best left alone.
6-8 Years
36 Pages
A snake is not just long. In this clever picture book, a snake is “totally tail,” and every animal has one standout feature that makes it wonderfully easy to notice.
With brief, lively phrases and bright illustrations, the book introduces children to animals by focusing on their most memorable traits. A porcupine becomes a bundle of prickles, a crab is all claws, and other creatures are described in ways that are simple, funny, and surprisingly sharp.
Perfect for young readers who like animals, wordplay, and looking closely, A Snake Is Totally Tail makes observation feel like a game. It encourages children to connect words, pictures, and real animal features while enjoying the rhythm and humor of each page.
6-8 Years
36 Pages
Benjamin loves his birthday so much that one day a year is not nearly enough. After the cake, presents, and party excitement are over, he comes up with a plan to stretch the celebration across all 365 days.
His idea is funny, clever, and just a little excessive: if he can keep opening presents, maybe every day can feel like a birthday. As Benjamin rewraps gifts and turns ordinary days into special ones, young readers get a playful story about excitement, wanting more, and the big imagination of a child determined to keep the fun going.
Benjamin’s 365 Birthdays is a humorous picture book for children who love birthday stories, surprises, and schemes that grow bigger than expected. It works especially well for readers who understand the joy of wishing a favorite day could last forever.
6-8 Years
48 Pages
By
Judi Barrett
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Pictures by
Ron Barrett
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Collected by
Frank Schaffer Publications
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With
Frank Schaffer Publications
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner do not come from stores in Chewandswallow. They fall from the sky. Soup rains down, mashed potatoes snow, and storms can bring hamburgers instead of hail.
At first, life in this strange town sounds delicious. Everyone plans their days around the weather, and every forecast means something new to eat. But when the portions grow too large and the food-weather turns dangerous, the people of Chewandswallow must face a problem no ordinary town has ever seen.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a funny, imaginative picture book with a wonderfully unusual idea at its center. It is a strong choice for young readers who enjoy food, weather, tall tales, and stories where everyday life turns completely upside down.
6-8 Years
8 Pages
A Counting and Rhyming Book
One, two, moo: numbers become a rhyming game in this cheerful counting book.
I Knew Two who Said Moo uses playful lines to move from one to ten, giving young readers a chance to hear rhyme, predict sounds, and follow a simple number sequence. The language is brief and musical, making it friendly for children who are building confidence with early reading skills.
With its mix of counting, rhythm, and silly animal sound fun, this picture book works well for shared reading, classroom number practice, or independent browsing by children who enjoy books that invite them to say the words aloud.
6-8 Years
36 Pages
A snake would lose a coat. A billy goat might eat one. A walrus would never keep anything dry. Page by page, this classic picture book proves that animals and clothing are a very bad match.
The fun comes from how obvious and how ridiculous each problem is. Young readers can predict the joke, laugh at the picture, and see how an animal’s own fur, feathers, scales, or skin already suit it perfectly. The short text makes the book easy to read aloud, while the precise, comic illustrations add extra humor to every scene.
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing is a playful favorite for children who enjoy animal books, silly logic, and visual comedy. It is simple enough for early readers but clever enough to keep the joke fresh.
6-8 Years
40 Pages
