Horrid Henry Rocks

Horrid Henry Rocks by Francesca Simon is a set of short funny stories for 6 year olds about a boy who will do absolutely anything to get one over on his little brother.

What happens

Perfect Peter keeps ten toy sheep on his mantelpiece. Lined up biggest to smallest. Noses forward. Exactly five centimetres apart.

One morning Fluff Puff is facing the wrong way. And he's crooked.

That's how it starts. Peter tells on Henry, Henry gets banned from the telly, so Henry sneaks back in and swaps the caps on Peter's felt tips. Peter puts pink in the sky and tells on him again.

Then it really escalates. Henry unwinds every string on Peter's cello and mismatches all his socks. Peter creeps into Henry's room, which is a pigsty, and hides a muddy twig in his bed.

By the end there are sheep in a pillowcase and a made-up burglar hiding under the bed, and Henry is explaining that he's dusting for fingerprints. With his fingers. Obviously.

Half the fun is that you're not only in Henry's head. You get Peter's side too, and Peter is magnificently annoying. He has a to-do list on a bulletin board. He makes himself a cup of calm by putting on his favourite CD (which Henry has swapped for a band called the Skullbangers, singing about boils).

The other stories carry on in the same way, including a brilliant one where Henry sneaks out at midnight to raid the biscuit tin in Moody Margaret's Secret Club tent, then has to hide in the dress-up chest while seven girls have a sleepover on top of him.

If you've read one of these aloud you'll know the rhythm. Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too. It's very easy to read and children find it extremely satisfying.

Fair warning on the name-calling. Henry calls Peter a worm, a frogface and a toady poo bag, and Peter calls him horrid right back. It's all invented playground stuff rather than anything genuinely nasty, but if your child repeats every insult they meet for the next fortnight, you'll be hearing ninnyhammer at teatime.

It's the American edition as well, so it's Mom rather than Mum and markers rather than felt tips. Children barely notice, but you'll spot it reading aloud.

What to read next

Dirty Bertie is a good follow-on for another boy who is permanently one prank away from trouble. Bertie has the same knack for getting the blame, and the stories come in the same short bursts.