Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
| Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Nigethan Sathiyalingam
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| Summary: Younger kids and older readers alike will devour these uproarious stories. Horrid Henry is great fun and as irresistible as ever. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 96 | Date: September 2011 |
| Publisher: Orion Childrens | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1842551356 | |
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He's the leader of the Purple Hand gang, the eternal tormentor of his sickeningly goody two shoes brother, and the master of get-rick-quick schemes. He's met the queen, tricked the tooth fairy and fought off the bogey babysitter. He's eternally misunderstood and always in trouble. He's Horrid Henry and he is as charismatic and as hilarious as ever.
It had been a long time since I last picked up a Horrid Henry book. I was worried that I might have grown out of the series, that the jokes would seem forced, and the story unsatisfying. I really needn't have worried. Within minutes I found myself guffawing shamelessly, and within half an hour I had devoured the four stories and was rooting around the house looking for my copies of older Horrid Henry stories. The first, and my personal favourite, story sees Henry improvising his own version of a colourful fairy story to avoid being punished for copying Peter's tale; Henry's improvisations are outrageous and the reactions of the teachers, Miss 'Boudicca' Battle Axe and Miss Lovely, were hilarious. We then have Henry sabotaging his school's healthy eating campaign, which leads to unexpected consequences. 'Horrid Henry and the Mad Professor' describes Henry's latest moneymaking endeavour, and as usual it involves him taking advantage of his brother Peter. Finally, the last story involves a class sleepover at the Town Museum, a torch-lit trail, a comic book about Vampires and Zombies, and three children each determined to give someone a scare – what could possible go wrong there?
A few times I was worried that some of the stories seemed too much like tales from previous books in the series, but by the end of each story, Francesca Simon had always managed to introduce some unexpected twist that made it original and satisfying to read. Although the structure of four short stories means that some of them end abruptly, it succeeds in keeping the stories sharp and funny and will no doubt leave readers wanting more. Tony Ross's little pen and ink illustrations are scattered generously throughout the pages, and they complement the book perfectly in their style and content.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Horrid Henry Rocks is one of a number of other books in the series, which is well worth checking out if you enjoyed this one. Young confident readers looking for more illustrated comedy might also enjoy Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross at Amazon.com.
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