Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure by Lynne Reid Banks is a creepy-crawly story for 7 year olds about a young centipede caught and kept in a jar.<\/p>\n
Harry lives in cool, dark tunnels with his mum, Belinda. He has forty-two legs, poison pincers and a best friend called George. One night he’s bored, and he pokes his head out of a tunnel without checking first.<\/p>\n
A loop of thread tightens round his middle and he’s lifted into the air. A boy has caught him for his collection.<\/p>\n
Harry ends up in a pickle jar on a shelf. The jars all round him hold a yellow scorpion, a hungry tarantula, some very sad caterpillars and a dung beetle who only talks in rhymes. And down at the end, in a jar of his own, is George.<\/p>\n
The best thing about this book is the way it makes you see the world from down on the ground. Glass is “hard-air”. People are Hoo-Mins. The sea is the no-end-puddle. A centipede’s own language has no vowels at all, so Harry is really Hxzltl (try saying your own name that way!).<\/p>\n
The storyteller chats to your reader the whole way through, explaining things and even reassuring them when things look bad. It’s a lovely one to read aloud.<\/p>\n
When a window frame gives way and the jars come crashing down, Harry can finally run for home. But he turns back for George. You’ll have a lump in your throat at that bit, and then the pair of them are off on an even bigger adventure involving an eagle and the sea.<\/p>\n
It’s worth knowing that creatures die along the way. The caterpillars won’t eat what they’re given and simply stop, and the scorpion gets stamped on. Harry’s dad was killed by a Hoo-Min before Harry hatched, which is mentioned early on. It’s all handled gently (the centipedes call dying “stopping”), but a very tender-hearted child might need a cuddle.<\/p>\n
Does your reader love minibeasts, or wish they could keep one in a jar? This will make them think twice. It’s a funny, exciting story about friendship, and about how it feels to be on the other side of the glass.<\/p>\n
If they’d like to go back to where it all began, Harry’s first adventure is A Story To Make You Squirm, when he and George first go Up the Up-Pipe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure by Lynne Reid Banks is a creepy-crawly story for 7 year olds about a young centipede caught and kept in a jar. Harry lives in cool, dark tunnels with his mum, Belinda. He has forty-two legs, poison pincers and a best friend called George. One night he’s bored, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12589,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7608,"lr_next_read_anchor":"A Story To Make You Squirm","lr_seo_hook":"Stuck in a pickle jar, a young centipede refuses to leave his friend."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[19],"book_type":[1048],"book_author":[653],"class_list":["post-7609","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-7-year-olds","book_type-free","book_author-lynne-reid-banks"],"yoast_title":"Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure by Lynne Reid Banks | Read free on Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Stuck in a pickle jar, a young centipede refuses to leave his friend. For ages 7+. Read this book free in the Little Reads app. 3,000+ books.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n