Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend - Francesca Simon

Horrid Henry and the Football fiend is a lovely fun book which my eldest has just finished reading. It is a paperback and has a white cover with a picture of Henry playing football and another rough looking boy trying to get the ball from him. The title is at the top in green lettering.

This book has been split into 4 short stories which are as follows:-

1. Horrid Henry Peeks at Peter’s Diary.

Henry storms ...
...school?

2. Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend

Henry is daydreaming at school about being a famous football player when he is interrupted by miss Battle Axe who has an announcement and tells the class they have a matter to discuss about football. She tells the class that as their local team has managed to make is through to the 6th round in the FA cup they are now due to play Manchester United and each school has been ... more

Horrid Henry and the Football fiend is a lovely fun book which my eldest has just finished reading. It is a paperback and has a white cover with a picture of Henry playing football and another rough looking boy trying to get the ball from him. The title is at the top in green lettering.

This book has been split into 4 short stories which are as follows:-

1. Horrid Henry Peeks at Peter’s Diary.

Henry storms into Perfect Peters bedroom to find him writing in his diary. Henry asks what he is doing and writing about but Peter wont tell him and says that he will find out the following week at school as Peter has been asked to read it out loud in assembly. Henry tries to snatch the diary but peter calls Mom who comes into the room and tell Henry to leave his brother alone.

After days of trying the coast is finally clear so Henry sneaks into Peter room and after some searching finds the diary. Henry is worried as it is the day before Peter is due to read his diary out in assembly. Will Henry read the diary and will he like what he finds or will it make him look like a big mean person in front of the whole school?

2. Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend

Henry is daydreaming at school about being a famous football player when he is interrupted by miss Battle Axe who has an announcement and tells the class they have a matter to discuss about football. She tells the class that as their local team has managed to make is through to the 6th round in the FA cup they are now due to play Manchester United and each school has been given a pair of tickets. The winner of the tickets would be a child from her class.

Miss Battle Axe tells the class that later that day there is going to be a football match involving the whole class and the tickets will go to whoever is the person of the match. Henry knows he is not the best player in the class but he wants the tickets so much. Will Henry be able to improve his football enough to win the tickets or will he end up trying to cheat to get them?

3. Horrid Henry Goes Shopping

Henry is in his bedroom surrounded by clothes but none of them fit him properly anymore. His Mom decides that she needs to take him shopping to get some new ones but Henry is not at all happy about this. Henry hates shopping, well he loves shopping for things like big TV’s, comics, toys and sweets but just not clothes or shoes, he finds it boring having to try on so many different shirts and trousers and the though just makes him want to scream. Henry says he will not go and no one could make him.

Mom suddenly remembers that Aunt Ruby bought over a big bag of old clothes which are bound to fit Henry which makes him even more angry as he does not want to wear his cousins old scruffy clothes but he still does not want to go shopping. Will Henry give in and go shopping or will he have to suffer wearing the old clothes they have been given?

4. Horrid Henry’s Arch Enemy

Henry is back at school and the whole class is making a racket and especially Henry who is banging pretending to be playing the drums. Miss Battle Axe tells the class to settle down or they will all miss playtime. She introduces the class to the new boy who is starting in their class and asks for a volunteer to show him around. The new boy is very tidy, has his hair slicked back, carries a briefcase and calculator and is extremely posh. Henry suddenly recognises him as his Dad’s boss’s son who Henry got into trouble last year. Henry hopes the boy will not recognise him but Miss Battle Axe spots an empty seat next to Henry and tells Henry he will be the one to show Bossy Bill around. Henry is hoping Bossy Bill will not remember him but as soon as he sits down the boys start arguing and fighting.

Will Bossy Bill and Henry ever become friends or are they destined to be arch enemies for ever?

The book looks quite long for children to read and stay interested in but the way the author Francesca Simon has split to book up into 4 shorter stories is a wonderful idea as it mean children do not loose interest in any of the book and they are keen and eager to start the next story. The characters are all very good and extremely believable and I am sure we all know a little boy just like Henry! She manages to add a lot of humour to each of the stories which I find also help to keep my eldest interested.

The book has been laid out in a very easy to follow way with nice big black text on plain white sections of each page and there are also some illustrations which accompany the stories which have been done by Tony Ross. The pictures are all black and white and very basic but they do help with the telling of the story and help children to visualise each of the characters being talked about.

The stories have all been written with nice simple basic words which make this book and all of the others in the series very easy for children to read and I definitely think these book are ideal to encourage independent reading.

My eldest who is 7 absolutely loved this book, he said that it was very interesting and funny and he loved all of the characters. He did find it very easy to read by himself but did have more enjoyment reading it with his Dad. He gives this book two thumbs up which I think is great!

The retail price on the back cover of the paperback book is £4.99 but this can be found cheaper on both Amazon and EBay and sometimes Tesco’s does have a few of these books so do shop around for a bargain. The book was written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross, it was published by Orion Books.

There are several story and activity books in the Horrid Henry collection and after the success of this book I will definitely be looking out for other titles. If you would like any further information on this or any book then please visit www.horridhenry.co.uk

 

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