Horrid Henry Rocks by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
| Horrid Henry Rocks by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: More irresistible naughtiness from the truly horrid Henry! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 112 | Date: September 2010 |
| Publisher: Orion Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1842551349 | |
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Horrid Henry Rocks brings us four more stories from the delightfully horrid little boy, Henry. Here we see him battle with his sappy little brother Peter, sabotage his neighbour, Moody Margaret's, sleepover, write his autobiography and finally he's evicted by security from the Dancing Daisies children's stage show where he stands on stage singing songs by The Killer Boy Rats!
The Horrid Henry stories are exactly the sort of books that parents sometimes hover over, wondering if they're a good influence for their little ones to read, but that kids immediately grab and devour with delight! I think the enjoyment comes from the fact that Henry takes naughtiness to the extreme, and children recognise that his acts are often outrageous but love the fact that they can live them vicariously through the stories.
I like that Henry's little brother is so very, very good - a complete opposite to Henry, and utterly unrealistic. He reminds me a lot of Walter in the Beano comics, and Henry has the same anarchic slant as Dennis the Menace. The first story in which they are both trying to get one up on the other is very funny. I always think that Francesca Simon must have such fun writing them. The stories are also scattered with little pen and ink drawings by Tony Ross that capture the chaos of Henry's life and help the action along.
I think that the book works well as either read-aloud stories to share, or for children growing in confidence to read by themselves. The short story format is perfect for either approach, so children can take the book in bite-size chunks or parents can limit bedtime reading marathons to one whole story per night. My own favourite in this particular collection was Horrid Henry's Autobiography. The range of different children in Henry's class made me laugh. I enjoyed getting to read some of their autobiographies, and the final outcome of the story (which I won't spoil for you!) is very funny and perfectly done.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: For other funny, outrageous children's stories you can't go wrong with the master himself, Roald Dahl.
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