This text-based study examines the intricacies of textual humour in junior texts, using the tools of literary criticism and humour theory. My research investigates the dialectical paradoxes of humour and the common assumptions of simplistic oppositional binaries of 'simple' versus 'complex' humour, 'childish' versus 'adult' humour, 'nonserious' versus 'serious' humour; basically, 'high' versus 'low' forms and properties of humour. I suggest that the various combinations of these 'high' and 'low' forms of humour, within junior texts for young readers at such a crucial stage of their reading and social development, provide a valuable commentary upon the culture and values of contemporary western society.