Aliens Made Me Do It by David Macphail, illustrated by Rory Walker ~ Blog Tour

Aliens Made Me Do It is a hilarious story of bizarre aliens, everyday kids and saving the world! I’m delighted to welcome author David Macphail to Scope for Imagination with a guest post about why humour is such a powerful tool when writing for children. This book is definitely one that will bring readers together (and create a waiting list in the class library)!

Why is humour such a powerful tool?

Getting people to laugh is hard. A simple chuckle is hard enough. A proper giggle? Ooh, tougher. But the holy grail—the snort-orange-juice-out-of-your-nose laugh—that’s Everest. And for anyone writing a funny book, that’s the summit we’re aiming for.

Kids, in particular, are the toughest crowd. You can’t just lob in a few fart jokes and hope for the best. (Well, you can, but they’ll spot the cheat a mile away.) Children are discerning. If it’s not genuinely funny, fuhgettaboutit!

The magic of laughter is that it makes us feel better. I’m sure there’s a scientific study somewhere that proves that. Actually, if that exists, I’d really love to see it. I’m picturing scientists in white coats measuring endorphin levels, perhaps at a Billy Connolly gig or something. Clipboards in hand, deeply serious expressions on their faces, taking notes and measurements as they watch tears of laughter running down the audience’s faces.

Humour is also a great connector. In schools, one of my favourite moments is reading aloud and seeing kids laugh together, suddenly united by a shared joke. It’s a shortcut to community, a way of saying: “You see it too!”

And finally, humour is sneaky. It lets you smuggle in big ideas under the radar. Sure, sometimes it’s just about where aliens go to the loo, but it’s also about puncturing pomposity, deflating the self-important, and holding up a wonky mirror to the world. Comedy doesn’t just make us laugh—it makes us think.

Which is why, in the right hands, a joke can be as powerful as a laser blaster. And a lot more fun.

Don’t miss the rest of the stops on this fantastic blog tour with Everything But Words!

Bookshop.org:

Amazon:

Books by Kate Heap:

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