Horrid Henry At His Best!!! (Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter - Francesca Simon)

Member Name: LAURALILIA

Product:	Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter - Francesca Simon
Date:	04/04/09 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, full of fun .

Disadvantages: Third story not as strong as the rest .

~~~~~HORRID HENRY AND THE BOGEY BABYSITTER~~~~

Horrid Henry books were great for introducing my son to independent reading. We started off reading them together when he was about five, but gradually he progressed to reading them alone without me!

***What's it all about?***

There are four stories contained within this book, featuring Henry and his family and friends. The stories are summarised as follows

~Horrid Henry Tricks and Treats~

This story is about Halloween. This is perhaps Henry's favourite night of the year. He has his red and black devil costume all ready, when he discovers that his younger brother Perfect Peter is going as a pink bouncy bunny - horror of horrors, Henry is mortified. His reputation will be in tatters and he will be open to teasing from all his classmates. Horrid Henry comes up with an idea to make Peter more scary, it involves hair and scissors... The end result is that Henry has to stay home, so it looks like he won't be getting any sweets this year or will he???

~Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter~

This is the story featured in the main title. Henry hates babysitters. His parents are desperately trying to get someone to look after Henry and his brother Peter, so that they can have a night out. Funnily enough, there doesn't seem to be anyone interested in doing it. Henry's reputation has spread far and wide. They finally manage to secure the services of Rabid Rebecca. Will Henry be able to whip this babysitter into shape or will she finally stop Henry being Horrid?

~Horrid Henry's Raid~

This story is about the rivalry between Horrid Henry's Purple Hand Club and Moody Margaret's Secret Club. It starts off with biscuits going missing from the girls club, there can only be one culprit - Henry! The girls don't take this lying down, they plot their revenge. The tit for tat continues until actual furniture and tents start to go missing. Who will have the upper hand in the end?

~Horrid Henry's Car Journey~

Henry has to go to the Christening of Vomiting Vera. It is so unfair; it is the same afternoon of Ralph's party at Go Shooter World. So Henry plots and schemes to avoid going with his parents and uses all his skill on the car journey to make mum and dad turn the car around and come home. He falls out with his brother Perfect Peter on the back seat, driving his mum and dad to distraction. He 'accidentally' get locked into the service station toilets. It doesn't seem to be working; they arrive at their destination and Henry gives up hope. It just too late - or is it?

***Opinion***

I love these books because they are just so not politically correct. Henry can be horrid in the stories and actually get away with it! Children love reading about children who actually beat their parents and teachers for a change. They are such good fun and so funny as well.

Francesca Simon's clever use of alliteration in the names of her characters, sum up their personalities perfectly, from Moody Margaret to Sour Susan. Perfect Peter his younger brother, really is perfect, but in these stories being perfect doesn't always pay.

Children come across alliteration even in reception class these days, so these books are a perfect introduction to this type of language use. In fact, this is probably what makes the books so much fun, as your own child plays with language and thinks up a few of his own for his friends!

The books have a nice size easily readable font and have some black and white sketches dotted about to give a face to many of the names mentioned. The stories are a nice length so that a child can feel some accomplishment at perhaps completing one a night.

Of these stories the last one is probably the strongest, as parents are able to identify with the nightmare car journey and the bickering that goes on. I think of the four Horrid Henry's Raid is perhaps the weakest, the plot is not very good and I am sure I have read something very similar in one of the other Horrid Henry books.

Overall, however I can fully recommend this book as it offers a fun introduction to independent reading.


***Availability***

This book can usually be bought on Ebay for between £2.00 -£2.50. Or alternatively there are sometimes boxed sets available from The Book People, although I can't see any at the moment.

Summary: A book with absolutely no moral story - how nice for a change!