Horrid Henry's Nightmare by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
| Horrid Henry's Nightmare by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Margaret Young
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| Summary: After twenty three books Horrid Henry is still in top form with the most hilarious nightmare ever. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 112 | Date: June 2013 |
| Publisher: Orion Childrens | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1444000160 | |
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Horrid Henry was the first chapter book my son ever read alone. It was quickly followed by a succession of books in the series and my son's confidence in reading grew by leaps and bounds with this engaging series that gets young children reading and keeps them reading. The simple fact is, with such a large number of books in the series, any child who reads through the whole lot will improve their reading skills. As he has grown older, his tastes in books have changed, but as I sat down to read 'Horrid Henry's Nightmare' to my four year old he was happy to listen in as well and we all enjoyed sharing this book as a family.
Anyone with children, especially boys, is most likely already familiar with Horrid Henry. Some people love Henry, others hate him. Many parents have called for Horrid Henry to be banned as a bad example, but children do love a bad example. Henry is very active, full of energy, schemes and ideas, but often very poorly behaved as well. He does lie, beat up his younger brother, take things that don't belong to him, and generally misbehave. However, his bad behaviour always lands him in more trouble, and he is usually sorry for the worst of it. If nothing else he is an excellent example of how not to behave. While I wouldn't want my children to behave like Henry, he is a likable character despite some serious behavioural issues. He does the right thing when it is most important. It is hard not sympathise with a child who feels less loved than a sibling, and his brother Peter isn't nearly as angelic as he appears. At least Henry is honest and straightforward where his brother often seems to take a sly pleasure in seeing Henry in trouble. Henry is not an icon of moral virtue for children to aspire to emulate. But he is a hilarious character who will have children laughing their socks off, and more importantly, Henry makes reading fun.
As with all Horrid Henry books, this is divided into four short stories. these are just the right size to give a developing reader confidence without overwhelming them. All of these books are written in a large standard font with good spacing on off white paper, but a very slight amount of print does show through from the previous page. The stories are illustrated in simple black and white drawings. The easy to read vocabulary of this book makes it ideal for children just starting to make the jump to chapter books, but the humorous stories make this a book which will appeal to a wide range of ages, and it is quite suitable as a read aloud book as well.
Both of my boys enjoyed the first story in this book the most. Henry exchanges horror stories with his friend Rotten Ralph before a sleepover. Perfect Peter joins in with a laughable scary story about a bunny who loses his tail, but the tailless bunny rabbit and all the characters from the ghost stories come back to haunt Henry's dreams, in one of the funniest Horrid Henry stories to date. The second story pits Henry against the school's new healthy foods packed-lunch policy. Henry tries to set his brother up for a fall when he enters Fluffy the cat in the best behaved pet contest. Things don't go quite to Henry's plan, and the joke ends up being on him in a story that will have even adult cat owners in stitches. Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter both go to great lengths to outdo each other on Mother's Day, but everything ends in disaster thanks to their squabbling. On the plus side, for once Henry really has chosen the perfect Mother's Day gift.
You'll find more fun from Horrid Henry in:
Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire
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You can read more book reviews or buy Horrid Henry's Nightmare 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.
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