100 books like The Nerd Herd

By Nathan Luff, Chris Kennett (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that The Nerd Herd fans have personally recommended if you like The Nerd Herd. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of Goldfish-Finger

Cristy Burne Author Of Ultra Violet: Down to Business

From my list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love inventing inventions and experimenting with experiments–all in aid of blending science and story to inspire innovation and positive change. My career covers six countries, 15+ novels for primary-aged children, and jobs that include science journalism at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider), exploding things at Questacon (as part of a science circus), and collecting bins in the back of a ute (as a garbage analyst). I write for children because I believe (and it’s scientifically proven) that our children are the future. 

Cristy's book list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost

Cristy Burne Why did Cristy love this book?

Smart writing, eclectic characters, and actually funny jokes that range from ferocious puns and hilarious slapstick to sophisticated humor; I love all the Secret Agent Mole books, and my kids do, too.

Seeing the underdogs take on evil and (spoiler alert!) save the day is super satisfying. I love the variety of clever jokes: some are one-liner laugh-out-louds, and others build and build across the entire book, and then wham! Extra points to creator James Foley for dreaming up such a diverse crew of spies.

It’s fast, funny, and fabulous–just what I want in a graphic novel for primary-aged kids.

By James Foley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Goldfish-Finger as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Max is a mole on a mission. With Helen Hippo and June Bug by his side, Max must stop the evil Goldfish-Finger from stealing a priceless, solid gold fishfinger. This dangerous, top-secret mission will involve explosions, a naked mole rat, and being flushed down a giant toilet. Will Max and the team defeat the fiendish fish? Time to rock and mole!


Book cover of Cranky Chicken

Cristy Burne Author Of Ultra Violet: Down to Business

From my list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love inventing inventions and experimenting with experiments–all in aid of blending science and story to inspire innovation and positive change. My career covers six countries, 15+ novels for primary-aged children, and jobs that include science journalism at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider), exploding things at Questacon (as part of a science circus), and collecting bins in the back of a ute (as a garbage analyst). I write for children because I believe (and it’s scientifically proven) that our children are the future. 

Cristy's book list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost

Cristy Burne Why did Cristy love this book?

How can such a simple story bring such joy?

I adore Cranky Chicken even though (because?) she’s grumpy, rude, and anti-social…and she’s hilarious. Featuring only a few panels per page and just two characters–Cranky Chicken and Speedy the super-cheery worm–this is a masterpiece of snappy dialogue and visual storytelling.

I’ve seen everyone, from adults to small children, race through this story because it’s so adorably funny.

By Katherine Battersby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cranky Chicken as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

Narwhal and Jelly meet The Bad Guys in this brightly illustrated, downright hilarious chapter book graphic novel full of “sweet, wholesome fun” (BCCB) about what happens when a very cranky chicken is befriended by a very cheerful worm.

Cranky Chicken is, well, cranky. With one cranky eyebrow, cranky eyes, and even cranky, scratchy feet. But then one day, Cranky meets a very friendly worm named Speedy who wants nothing more than to be friends. Young readers will love seeing the mismatched friendship grow over the course of three charming and laugh-out-loud short adventures as Chicken and Speedy become BFFs (Best…


Book cover of Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery

Cristy Burne Author Of Ultra Violet: Down to Business

From my list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love inventing inventions and experimenting with experiments–all in aid of blending science and story to inspire innovation and positive change. My career covers six countries, 15+ novels for primary-aged children, and jobs that include science journalism at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider), exploding things at Questacon (as part of a science circus), and collecting bins in the back of a ute (as a garbage analyst). I write for children because I believe (and it’s scientifically proven) that our children are the future. 

Cristy's book list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost

Cristy Burne Why did Cristy love this book?

I love anything that mixes science and creativity, and this book does this seamlessly. Set in a museum, the story is a real mystery, so kids can collect clues and uncover the secrets.

I also love that there are real science facts and ideas woven into the narrative, so while I’m laughing, I’m also learning (without even realizing 😉).

By Renee Treml,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

An action-packed graphic novel mystery with gentle humor and Bad Guys–style illustrations, perfect for dinosaur-loving emerging readers.

Hi there, I'm Sherlock Bones.

Who is Sherlock Bones, you ask? Well, I don’t like to brag, but my trusty side-kick Watts says I’m the greatest detective in our whole museum. 

Don’t you, Watts? 

Watts . . . ?

Sherlock Bones and his sidekick, a stuffed parrot named Watts, live in a natural history museum. So when the precious Royal Blue Diamond goes missing, they are first on the case. What they don’t expect is Grace, a silly, new-to-the-scene raccoon who keeps getting…


Book cover of Friendly Bee and Friends

Cristy Burne Author Of Ultra Violet: Down to Business

From my list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love inventing inventions and experimenting with experiments–all in aid of blending science and story to inspire innovation and positive change. My career covers six countries, 15+ novels for primary-aged children, and jobs that include science journalism at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider), exploding things at Questacon (as part of a science circus), and collecting bins in the back of a ute (as a garbage analyst). I write for children because I believe (and it’s scientifically proven) that our children are the future. 

Cristy's book list on funny graphic novels for kids when you need a mood boost

Cristy Burne Why did Cristy love this book?

I know and love some hopeless optimists and can recognise myself in Angry Wasp and Friendly Bee in equal measure.

This is a quirky and hilarious book about finding friendship in the most unlikely places. I love the messages of loyalty and glass-half-full living, all in a fun mix of near-miss disasters.

It's a great read for younger readers learning about friendship.

By Sean Avery,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Friendly Bee and Friends as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

Friendly Bee wants to be friends with every bug he meets, whether they like it or not.

Meet Friendly Bee: he's a bee who puts himself out there, a bee who sees the best in other beings. Sometimes, Friendly Bee’s cheerful attitude gets him into trouble – like almost being squashed by an excessively large shoe; or becoming a delicious meal for the mildly homicidal Enormous Hairy Spider. Luckily, Friendly Bee’s reluctant best friend Angry Wasp is there to save this buzzing buffoon from certain doom – if he really has to.


Book cover of Chasing Billy the Kid: Frank Stewart and the Untold Story of the Manhunt for Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Author Of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

From my list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, my supply of heroes was liberally doled out by the 130+ Western series that dominated nighttime televisions. My parents allowed me one program per week. It was a Western. I was soon interested in history, to know what really happened in the American West, and so I came to understand the great discrepancies between fact and TV. The truth, for me, is much more interesting than the myth. But that truth carries some heavy weight, which informs us of our national foibles, crimes, and embarrassments. As a Western historian, I've done my share of historical research, but I still gravitate toward historical fiction as a writer.

Mark's book list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Why did Mark love this book?

Most people with even a casual familiarity with Billy the Kid know at least three things about the young outlaw:

1) Billy was captured and found guilty of murder.

2) Before he could be hanged, he affected a spectacular escape.

3) He was hunted down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Because of the high drama of that last point (a shooting in a dark room at midnight near the bedroom of Billy’s paramour) and because of the machinations of the sheriff’s ghostwriter and publicist, Garrett has received all the glory for the Kid being brought to justice.

But there was another lawman who deserves just as much credit—Frank Stewart, lead detective for a Texas cattleman’s association. Stewart played an equal role in Billy’s capture, but his name was suppressed by those who did not want to divvy up fame. This new information is the subject of this book.

By Kurt House, Roy B. Young,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chasing Billy the Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New, hardcover copy of the latest book on the life of Billy the Kid, concentrating on the fall and winter 1880 chase-and-capture of Billy and the boys at Stinking Spring. 424 pp., pages 8 1/2 x 11, over 120 illustrations and documents, many never before published. Much new material. Also available: SIGNED copies; and limited edition in slipcase.


Book cover of Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life

Mark Warren Author Of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

From my list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, my supply of heroes was liberally doled out by the 130+ Western series that dominated nighttime televisions. My parents allowed me one program per week. It was a Western. I was soon interested in history, to know what really happened in the American West, and so I came to understand the great discrepancies between fact and TV. The truth, for me, is much more interesting than the myth. But that truth carries some heavy weight, which informs us of our national foibles, crimes, and embarrassments. As a Western historian, I've done my share of historical research, but I still gravitate toward historical fiction as a writer.

Mark's book list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Why did Mark love this book?

Utley, a respected historian of (mostly) Indian-related research, offers the cold, hard facts of Billy’s life and remains true to objectivity, leaving the reader with the job of analyzing the right and the wrong of decisions, reactions, and events.

What tantalizes me about his book is that a researcher of such stature would choose to write about a teenaged outlaw and killer, when so many other topics of greater significance await their turn in his pen.

By Robert M. Utley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Billy the Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Whatever his name or alias at the moment-Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, Kid Antrim, Billy Bonney-people always called him the Kid. Not until his final month did anyone call him Billy the Kid. Newspapers pictured him as a king of outlaws; and his highly publicized capture, trial, escape, and end fixed his image in the public mind for all time. He was only twenty-one years old when a bullet from Sheriff Pat Garett's six-shooter killed him on July 14, 1881. Within a year Billy the Kid became the subject of five dime-novel "biographies" as well as Garett's ghost-written account, and that…


Book cover of The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid

Jim Motavalli Author Of The Real Dirt on America's Frontier Outlaws

From my list on Wild West Desperados.

Why am I passionate about this?

I wrote my first cover story on climate change circa 1996, when the computer modeling made clear what would happen. Then I began to see clear physical evidence that the planet was warming, and not much was being written about it outside academic circles. That led to the book Feeling the Heat. I recruited a bunch of experienced environmental journalists, sent them around the world, and they came back with very detailed and important reporting based on what they’d seen—melting glaciers, rising seas, changing ecosystems.

Jim's book list on Wild West Desperados

Jim Motavalli Why did Jim love this book?

Like many of the period books, this one has to be seen in context. It was written just eight months after Garrett shot William Bonney, so the story is at least fresh. But subsequent scholars have found the story to be full of holes and self-serving versions of history. But it makes fascinating reading, because shooter and victim had a history. According to Garrett, the Kid’s last words were in Spanish, “Quien es?” (“Who is it?”)

By Pat Garrett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Billy, The Kid, The Noted Desperado of the Southwest, Whose Deeds of Daring and Blood made His Name A Terror in New Mexico, Arizona and Northern Mexico Few names evoke images of the lawless Old West as much as Billy the KId. He has been the subject of countless films, documentaries, TV show and books. Written by Sheriff Pat Garrett, the man who shot and killed William H. Bonney, the outlaw known as Billy the Kid, for many years this book was considered the definitive work on the life and death of Billy the Kid.


Book cover of Journey of the Dead

Mark Warren Author Of Indigo Heaven

From my list on Westerns that don’t thrive off of gunfights.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, my supply of heroes was liberally doled out by the 130+ Western series that dominated nighttime television in those decades. My parents allowed me one program per week. It was a Western. I was soon interested in history, to know what really did happen in the American West, and so I came to understand the great discrepancies between fact and TV. The truth, for me, is so much more interesting than the myth. As a Western historian, I've done my share of historical research, but I still gravitate toward fiction as a writer. I love the freedom to engage my characters’ thoughts and emotions.

Mark's book list on Westerns that don’t thrive off of gunfights

Mark Warren Why did Mark love this book?

Estleman has taken a well-known story—the chase, capture, and assassination of Billy the Kid—and given it new life by exploring the occult and its effect on Sheriff Pat Garrett as he stumbles toward his destiny as the killer of the Kid.

This novel is a perfect example of how fiction can sometimes offer a richer probe into history by exposing the inner workings of the characters. 

By Loren D. Estleman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Journey of the Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Loren D. Estleman's Journey of the Dead, when Pat Garrett killed his poker buddy, Billy the Kid, he had no idea what a terrible emotional price he would pay. Haunted by memories of Billy, Garrett wanders the New Mexico desert in a fruitless pursuit of peace.

Deep in the same desert, an ancient Spanish alchemist searches for the fabled philosopher's stone. Resolutely alone in his quest he devotes his long life to hunting the secrets of the old gods.

As these two men seek answers to questions that have confounded mankind for centuries, their stories encompass the panorama of…


Book cover of The West of Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Author Of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

From my list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, my supply of heroes was liberally doled out by the 130+ Western series that dominated nighttime televisions. My parents allowed me one program per week. It was a Western. I was soon interested in history, to know what really happened in the American West, and so I came to understand the great discrepancies between fact and TV. The truth, for me, is much more interesting than the myth. But that truth carries some heavy weight, which informs us of our national foibles, crimes, and embarrassments. As a Western historian, I've done my share of historical research, but I still gravitate toward historical fiction as a writer.

Mark's book list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Why did Mark love this book?

Nolan, an Englishman who researched from his home country, has long been considered the world authority on Billy the Kid.

It can still be said that all research on Billy begins with Nolan, who died in 2022. His book undertakes the massive quest to explain the Lincoln County War in detail and to reveal the endless cast of characters interwoven throughout the struggle.

Nolan’s supple mind has delivered unto us provocative motives for Billy’s actions and thereby expanded our understanding of the Kid’s mind. Without Nolan, historians would be left with mere nuggets of information and not necessarily hold the larger story in perspective.

By Frederick W. Nolan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The West of Billy the Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The West of Billy the Kid, renowned authority Frederick Nolan has assembled a comprehensive photo gallery of the life and times of Billy the Kid. In text and in more than 250 images-many of them published here for the first time-Nolan recreates the life Billy lived and the places and people he knew. This unique assemblage is complemented by maps and a full biography that incorporates Nolan's original research, adding fresh depth and detail to the Kid's story and to the lives and backgrounds of those who witnessed the events of his life and death.Here are the faces of…


Book cover of Billy the Kid: El Bandido Simpatico

Mark Warren Author Of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

From my list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, my supply of heroes was liberally doled out by the 130+ Western series that dominated nighttime televisions. My parents allowed me one program per week. It was a Western. I was soon interested in history, to know what really happened in the American West, and so I came to understand the great discrepancies between fact and TV. The truth, for me, is much more interesting than the myth. But that truth carries some heavy weight, which informs us of our national foibles, crimes, and embarrassments. As a Western historian, I've done my share of historical research, but I still gravitate toward historical fiction as a writer.

Mark's book list on America’s most famous young outlaw, Billy the Kid

Mark Warren Why did Mark love this book?

As it is often said, “history is written by the winners.”

The Hispanic population had very little voice in the outcome of the Lincoln County War, but it is they who had the deepest insight into who Billy was, for they were his friends and he their champion. Mills has mined that forgotten voice to publish a more thorough understanding of who the Kid was.

The result is a greater appreciation for Billy as a human being. This is a long overdue perspective that better defines Billy Bonney’s admirable traits.

By James B. Mills,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Billy the Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the annals of American western history, few people have left behind such lasting and far-reaching fame as Billy the Kid. Some have suggested that his legend began with his death at the end of Pat Garrett's revolver on the night of July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner. Others believe that the legend began with his unforgettable jailbreak in Lincoln, New Mexico, several months prior on April 28, 1881. Others still insist his legend began with the publication in 1926 of Walter Noble Burns's book, The Saga of Billy the Kid.

James B. Mills has left no stone unturned in…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in cats, foxes, and presidential biography?

11,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about cats, foxes, and presidential biography.

Cats Explore 190 books about cats
Foxes Explore 25 books about foxes
Presidential Biography Explore 19 books about presidential biography