Horrid Henry - Don't You Just Love Him? (Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb - Francesca Simon)

Member Name: LAURALILIA

Product:	Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb - Francesca Simon
Date:	04/03/09 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great stories with good characters, nice length for early readers

Disadvantages: Your child might not need you to read for them - you will miss out !

HORRID HENRY'S STINKBOMB by FRANCESCA SIMON

Many of the children's books that I have reviewed have had a moral message; a little something for the child to learn from and put into practice. This book does not. It is full of fun, a book that tells the story of Horrid Henry and his escapades. I like to think that in this pc world there is a bit of Horrid Henry in all of us - even the grown-ups!

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

Although the title of the book is Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb, there are in fact four short stories in the book:

1. Horrid Henry Reads a Book - This tells the story of a book competition at school, where the child who reads the most books, wins the prize of tickets to a theme park. Of course even though Henry has the best of intentions, he eventually resorts to cheating and does in fact win. There is a downside - the type of theme park is not one that Henry imagined!
2. Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb - This is the story that is depicted on the front cover. It is about two rival gangs, one headed by Moody Margaret and of course one led by Horrid Henry. There is trouble in both camps when a member of each one, defects to the other side! Each group has plans to trick the other, one with a 'stinkbomb' - the other with a 'dungeon drink'. With spies in the camp, will the tricks go to plan? I won't spoil the ending...
3. Horrid Henry's School Project - The class is split into groups to work together and share ideas to build a Parthenon. Sharing and co-operation are not Henry's strong points! He ends up in trouble and has to work in isolation. However, for once in this story it is the teacher who comes to a sticky end!
4. Horrid Henry's Sleepover - Horrid Henry has run out of friends who will have him over to their house for a sleepover. Each time, something goes wrong, Henry is badly behaved and his parents have to take him home at 3am. Henry gets another chance when a new boy arrives in school - great - a new chance for a sleepover has come. New Nick's home life is not what Henry expects though, with Nick's outgoing parents, weird sister and multitude of pets. Will Henry last the night?

***Opinion***

These books are suitable for both boys and girls around the age of 7 (give or take a couple of years either side) and are a nice size to encourage independent reading. The child feels a sense of achievement as they progress through the book, completing a chapter at a time.

They have some fabulous characters, Horrid Henry himself, alongside his brother Perfect Peter, Moody Margaret, Clever Clare and Sour Susan to mention a few. Even the teacher gets a fab name - Miss Battle-Axe. The use of alliteration with the names is great and get children thinking up a few of their own.

As I mentioned before, I like the fact that these books aren't politically correct. In fact, Henry behaves in a way in which we all wish we could now and again. For example, when Miss Battle-Axe is about to tell the class what to do, Henry thinks to himself 'What was bothering the old bat now?'

My son found these books a great deal of fun, there are many to collect and while I started off reading them to him, he quickly became able to read them independently.

I also liked how some of the endings went against the grain, for example it was the teacher who got into trouble in one story, not Horrid Henry. I'm sure there will be those people who think that these books are wrong to have Henry being horrid and showing a lot of disrespect, but I think the character is what most of us have a bit of inside them anyway! We aren't all perfect!

The other characters in the story can also be identified with - in every class there is always someone 'perfect' or 'clever' and it is fun to see how these characters live up to their name and sometimes get their comeuppance!

***Availability***

These are definitely books for keeps and The Book People do a set for £14.99. The RRP is £4.99 for one book, but you can pick them up for around £2.25 on Ebay if you want to get them individually. I can recommend these books and I think there is also a tv series to go with them. I know they are very popular in the school in which I work and everyone has heard of them.

This review is also published on Ciao under the same username.

Summary: Great books for children and adults alike - because there is a bit of Henry in all of us!