Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy

Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy by Francesca Simon is three stories for 6 year olds, starting with the one where everybody in the class has lost a tooth except Henry.

What happens

Moody Margaret has lost two. Sour Susan has lost three. Rude Ralph has lost four and can now spit right across the classroom to the blackboard.

Henry has lost none. He pulls, he pushes, he tweaks and he tugs. His teeth will not budge.

Then his little brother Perfect Peter comes over to the fort and opens his hand, and there it is. A tooth. With a gap in Peter's mouth to match.

Henry's first move is to accuse him of colouring a tooth in with black crayon.

His second move is to grab it.

The plans that follow are the good bit. A hammer is considered and rejected. So is tying string round a tooth and slamming a door. Then he remembers that sweets are supposed to make your teeth fall out, so he empties the sweet jar two days before he is allowed any.

His jaw hurts. His gums hurt. His tummy hurts. His teeth do not move a millimetre.

So Henry moves on to a plan involving somebody else's tooth and his own pillow.

These read out loud beautifully, mostly because Henry is so honest about himself. He does not pretend to be nice or to feel bad. When he loses his temper he is a volcano pouring hot lava on anybody silly enough to get in the way, and he rather enjoys it.

Small print worth having. Henry does genuinely horrid things here. He snatches, he jeers, he sticks his tongue out, and the worst that happens to him is no pudding. If you have a child who will try things on for size, expect the tooth-pulling suggestions to come up at bedtime.

A more practical warning. This is the American edition. There is a Mom rather than a Mum, the sweets are candy, and the Tooth Fairy leaves fifty cents or a dollar rather than a pound. At this age it is worth a quick word before you start, or you will be stopping every page to explain.

The other two stories are just as good. Henry is made to be a ring bearer at a wedding, in green satin knickerbockers, tights and a pink cummerbund. Then Moody Margaret comes to stay while her parents are away, which Henry takes about as well as you would expect.

What to read next

Henry and Peter only ever get Henry's version of things. The Pain and the Great One turns the same argument round and gives you both sides. A sister explains why her six year old brother is a pain, in short easy lines, and then he gets his turn.