Horrid Henry Rocks

I am a pretty easy-going guy. I joke about farts occasionally with my son, and am by no means a prude. Yet I was shocked at how vulgar and unredeeming these stories are! Before I actually read a story, my 8-year old had read about 15 of these books, and he became noticeably meaner to his sister, cruder, and ruder. Henry is a kid, who is mean, conniving, hateful, and dirty. He has a brother he torments, named Perfect Peter. There is literally no redeeming feature about Henry. He lies and hurts people. He speaks in a vulgar manner. He schemes, he talks back, he says bad things about his family. He even has a pet stuffed animal named, get this, are you ready -- Mr. Kill.

Tonight, I wrote a note to my son's second grade teacher telling her he has been disallowed from reading any more Horrid Henry books.

With all the great books out there, stay away from this rubbish.

Horrid has never been so good! Horrid Henry Rocks by Francesca Simon is a short story collection featuring every boy's mischievous hero. In these four short stories, Henry invades his brother Perfect Peter's room, infiltrates Moody Margaret's sleepover to steal yummy treats, writes his autobiography with odd results, and plots to find a way to attend a concert given by his favorite band, the Killer Rat Boys.

This is the first Horrid Henry book I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Now, if Horrid Henry was my kid, I would certainly be crying a boatload of tears, but Simon's horrible main character will delight early readers with his antics. Simon creates a group of quirky characters and embellishes their quirks to the hilt. Moody Margaret is as stubborn as June B. Jones and as obnoxious as Junie's nemesis, May. Perfect Peter, Henry's younger brother, is the most perfect kid on the earth. He keeps his room nice and tidy; he does his homework without a problem; and he loves Daffy and Her Dancing Daisies like every good boy should. Lazy Linda is too lazy to bother doing much of anything, and Vain Violet won't sleep on the floor at Moody Margaret's sleepover.

The illustrations by Tony Ross are perfect for this one. Ross captures Simon's zany characters in all their quirkiness. From the point of Moody Margaret's nose to the ominous zombie from sleepover ghost story, the book wouldn't be the same without this fabulous artwork.

I want to own all of these now!

Horrid Henry is a series about a mischievous boy. He actually reminds me of my son, Zachary who is 5, and plays tricks on his sister, Nevaeh who is 2 at this time, and gets her into trouble. Henry plays many mean tricks on Perfect Peter, his little brother. I really liked how this book actually has 4 stories wrapped up in one book. The first chapter gives you an idea of how Horrid Henry really is...how perfect Peter is, and the chapters that follow introduce some of Henry's classmates and acquaintances.

I also like how each character has an adjective describing them before their name, Moody Margaret, Sour Susan, Whimpy William, etc... You get a feel of how kids read each other by their adjectives before their name. Henry knows Moody Margaret is mean and bossy to her friends as in the second chapter when she has a sleep over for her Secret Club, Whimpy William cries a lot about everything. My son thought these were good ideas, plus it gave him a sense of the meaning of the words. In the final chapter of the book, Horrid Henry desperately wants to see his favorite band perform, and his parents and brother do not like them so they purchase tickets to Perfect Peter's favorite band. While at the concert Henry wins the chance to sing and dance with this band who he truly hates, when asked to start a song off he sings a song of his favorite band's. He then receives tickets in the mail from the band telling him they saw him in a video singing their song and he also gets a back stage pass! I thought this story was wonderful considering, Henry never gets his wish...

I think our favorite part was chapter 3 the Autobiography, where each student in Horrid Henry's class wrote a page long story about their life and Henry stole Moody Margaret's and replaced it with his version of her life, all the while not knowing she replaced his with her version of his. There are also some really cute rhymes in the stories from their favorite bands. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has children of age looking for some wild stories to tell. I will be getting the other books from this series also!

**Disclaimer: I received a review copy on this book from Sourcebooks. I have given my honest opinion about this book. No other compensation was received.

My 8 year old son laughs and laughs reading these books. He says they are really funny. He stays interested in them all the way through. He likes that Horrid Henry does everything wrong. It makes him feel better about himself. Both parents also found the books entertaining and well-written.

I personally have not read them - - - Horrid Henry Rocks, Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire, and Horrid Henry's Monster Movie - - -

But when my 9-year-old grandson unwrapped them his face lit up and he said "Kool! Horrid Henry -- And I got 3 of them."

What better reaction could one receive?

Mission Accomplished!

Unfortunately, I bought each book for my seven year old son. Even he could not believe how "horrible" Henry behaved with absolutely NO consequences. One book has Henry singing about hitting an old person on the head with a cane. I am "horrified" that these books are published and further shocked they have been endorsed by parents. These books are so deplorable I will not pass along to friends or donate. They will end up in the garbage where they belong. Reckless content pretty much sums it up. Oh, I looked at the author's photo and let's just say I wasn't surprised.

It is very funny book and my kids love it very much.

GREAT

When the package with this book arrived my daughter was eager to read it. In fact she finished it in record time - even memorizing some parts of it. She like it very much - I think she could relate to the antics of Henry since she has two brothers of her own. She liked Perfect Peter because she could sympathize mostly with him - as her own brothers pull some of the same things off. This book is very engaging and quick moving. All three stories move rapidly. Horrid Henry is the typical active boy. Great for readers eager for their first chapter books. I found the names of the characters to be cute and funny and the general theme good.
Thank you Sourcebook for this review copy.