Horrid Henry's Nits - Francesca Simon

Welcome to the world of Horrid Henry, who is horrid by name and horrid by nature. He is also my eldest child's favourite story character. Horrid Henry is quite an unpleasant little boy, who lives with his younger brother (Perfect Peter) and Mum and Dad. Horrid Henry's Nits is one of many books written by Francesca Simon. Each of the Horrid Henry books actually contains 4 stories, creatively illustrated by Tony Ross.

Horrid Henry's ...
...is until a mean and horrid plan form in Henry's slightly twisted mind. Henry decides to get rid of his nits by passing them on to his friends. As always Henry manages to scrape himself out of trouble and even receives a nit free certificate.

Horrid Henry and the Fangmangler.
Pages 28 - 51

Mum, rather misguidedly, promises Henry a trip to Toy Heaven. So Henry raids his skeleton bank in order to count his money ... more

Welcome to the world of Horrid Henry, who is horrid by name and horrid by nature. He is also my eldest child's favourite story character. Horrid Henry is quite an unpleasant little boy, who lives with his younger brother (Perfect Peter) and Mum and Dad. Horrid Henry's Nits is one of many books written by Francesca Simon. Each of the Horrid Henry books actually contains 4 stories, creatively illustrated by Tony Ross.

Horrid Henry's Nits
Pages 7 - 27

"Scratch, scratch, scratch" the first sentence in this story sets the scene brilliantly, and has the added bonus of making the reader begin to itch uncontrollably. Henry has bought nits home again, along with a letter about head lice from Miss Battle-Axe, his teacher. Rather than being upset by the prospect of having head lice, Henry takes great delight in counting the things. The letter however is consigned to the bin. Then Mum arrives with the Supersonic Nit Blasting Shampoo. A battle between parents and child, shampoo and the surrounding area starts and causes the much repeated "Henry! Stop being horrid!" line to be yelled by Dad. After running out of shampoo, before any of it reaches his head, Henry is happy.

This happy state is short lived as poor Henry had not anticipated the arrival of Nitty Nora Bug Explorer, and whilst he contemplates pretending to have mad cow disease or double quick tummy ache, he knows his efforts are futile. That is until a mean and horrid plan form in Henry's slightly twisted mind. Henry decides to get rid of his nits by passing them on to his friends. As always Henry manages to scrape himself out of trouble and even receives a nit free certificate.

Horrid Henry and the Fangmangler.
Pages 28 - 51

Mum, rather misguidedly, promises Henry a trip to Toy Heaven. So Henry raids his skeleton bank in order to count his money and check that he has enough to buy the Dungeon Drink Kit that he has been dreaming of. Imagine poor Henrys indignation when he finds all his money has gone. After accusing robbery, and realising that he has actually spent it all on sweets and comics Henry needs to come up with another of his plans and fast.

Not surprisingly Perfect Peter has saved all his money and is excited about the prospect of the Nature Kit that he has been saving for. Horrid Henry realises he could easily steal the money from Peter's cello case, but knows he would be caught, so instead his plan is more devious and entails Peter giving the money to him. Peter has set up a Club with his friends called the Best Boys Club, whose motto is 'Can I help?' and whose password is 'vitamins'. Henry manages to entice the best boys into giving him two pounds each in return for showing them the slimmest, scariest. Most horrible and frightening monster … The Fangmangler.

Now the plan involves Henry being savaged by the mythical Fangmangler, aided only by some old torn clothes and a bottle of ketchup. Peter and his friends are petrified and Henry receives his money that is until the dark shadowy shape that leaps out of the bushes and causes Henry to run off in fright.

Horrid Henry's School Trip
Pages 52 -73

The school trip is Henry's idea of heaven. "No work. No assembly. A packed lunch. A chance to fool around all day. What could be better?" Especially when the school trip is to Frosty Freeze Ice Cream Factory. So you can quite imagine the disappointment when they arrive at the factory to find it closed. In an effort to appease the children Miss Battle-Axe changes her plans and takes them to the town museum.

Horrid Henry's day is made even worse when he realises that Perfect Peter, who is wearing an identical T Shirt to him, and Mum are also at the museum. Henry has to escape the museum so another of his cunning plans are formed. Henry goes for a wee, and while away from the class he takes the opportunity of 'swapping' his healthy lunch for some of his friends treats. Then he runs amok in the museum and causes a dinosaur skeleton to come crashing down. Luckily a guard has seen who has causes the chaos and takes the child away to the 'Bad Children's Room'. Unluckily for Peter, this is a case of the wrong T Shirt being blamed for the crime.

Horrid Henry and the Dinner Guests
Pages 74 -96

While Henry is happily playing with his Grisly Grub Box and Dungeon Drinks kit, bought by Henry's grandmother, Dad attempts to talk to Henry about the imminent arrival of Mum's new boss for dinner. Dad lays down the ground rules for acceptable behaviour and Henry only half listening agrees to them. Henry and Peter are banished to their rooms so that the adults can enjoy the dinner party in peace.

Henry can not believe the injustice of life when Perfect Peter is invited downstairs to do a cello recital for the grown ups and as you have probably guessed he comes up with a plan.

This is one of Henry's better thought out plans and involves the items made in his Grisly Grub Box and Dungeon Drinks kit. Henry manages to swap some of the real food for his homemade efforts and causes his normal amount of trouble. Furthermore in the chaos the salmon lovingly prepared by Mum burns and Henry manages to save the day by ordering a mega whopper pizza.

The Characters

The names of the characters in this book immediately tell you a lot about them. Among my favourites are Horrid Henry's friends Weepy William, Rude Ralph, Moody Margaret, Beefy Bert and Dizzy Dave. Perfect Peter's friends are Tidy Ted, Goody-Goody Gordon and Spotless Sam.

My Opinion

The Horrid Henry books are well written and are easy for children to listen to. They are suitable for children from 5 years, and appeal as reading books for 7-9 year olds as they can relate to the humour. The book has whole page cartoon style pictures, in black and white and many pages also have black and white illustrations which show wonderfully expressive characters. Henry is always shown as a wild haired child, normally wearing a scowl or a mischievous grin.

Horrid Henry is not a pleasant child, but there is something endearing about him. He has some truly fabulous plans, but most of them seem to go wrong, and there are lots of places where children are able to see the errors in his ways.

Horrid Henry appeals to many children, and they enjoy talking about the characters. Some children become indignant at Horrid Henry's approach to life, while others are simply amused by it. I love reading these stories and discussing the plot. I also love the way that children listen so intently to them.

Other Information

ISBN 1-85881-353-0
Paperback, with black and white illustrations.
RRP £4.99
Available from WHSmiths for RRP, £3.74 from Tesco.
There are many other Horrid Henry books if you enjoy this one. 

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