Oh, the image of a child reading! It's a wonderful thing when children find books they can't put down.
Henry seems to really be concentrating, but...
He can later be found grabbing a book away from his brother, "Perfect Peter."
And taking a toy away from him...
Artwork above by (c) Tony Ross, illustrator of Horrid Henry series
Can't we all just get along?
How many parents have never seen their child act out? No matter how much we try to raise polite and well-mannered children, there is no such thing as the perfect child. Even adults have their moments!
Maybe that's why children (ages 5 - 8), parents, and teachers have been raving about Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry series. Over 15 million copies of these books have been sold in 27 countries. It's the bestselling chapter book series in the UK, and has recently been released in the US.
Horrid Henry not only takes sibling rivalry to the next level, but just about everything he does is downright naughty. He has absolutely no self-control, and does things that most children would only think about doing. Yes, most children know better, but that does not mean they can't relate to Henry's horrid behavior!
The lesson in Horrid Henry is how NOT to behave. These books are not only a great teaching tool for children, but believe it or not, parents can learn from them as well. Henry's parents do not have any control over their child, and instead of helping him to learn from his mistakes, they only fuel his negative behavior. They also expect him to be "horrid" all the time. When Henry actually does something nice, for example, his father responds by saying, "You've done something horrid, haven't you, Henry?" So much for praising positive behavior...
While this series is not one that I would normally write about, and is certainly not for everyone, I do feel that this series has the potential to turn many newly independent, perhaps reluctant, readers into book seekers. There are books out there for everyone, and some children have to work a little bit harder to find ones they like. This series will help them to see that reading can really be a fun and enjoyable (and not so serious) activity. Besides, who couldn't use a good laugh once in a while?
Please note that whether you read aloud this series to your child, or take turns reading it with him or her, it's the perfect opportunity to model enthusiastic reading for your child. You can bring the characters and events to life by giving characters different voices, and by using inflection the way you would in a real conversation. Your child will be giggling in no time!
You can also find so many great resources at the Horrid Henry Facebook Page. There is an activity book for parents, and a teacher's guide with many great lesson plan ideas for each story in the first 4 books. You can also check out more of Tony Ross' fabulous illustrations and find out more about upcoming books and even a related video game. There's also a Horrid Henry Time Machine Contest going on now through June 30th.
Our children will encounter many positive and negative role models in their lifetimes. Books imitate real life, and quite honestly, not every person they meet in real life is going to be nice. While I'm sure that some of you may not appreciate the type of humor in these books, I just want to say that I think it's important for children to read a wide variety of children's literature. Some of the books they read may not be ones that we like ourselves, but it is important for them to make their own choices.The important thing is to monitor what our children read, and to make sure we balance their reading selections out with high quality picture books (fiction and nonfiction), chapter books, novels, newspapers, and magazines.
By the way, elementary school students are not too old for picture books! You can find some great ones you may have missed here.
I hope you and your child have a lot of fun reading this summer!
If you'd like to read more book reviews of Horrid Henry over the next couple of weeks, feel free to check out these other sites:
Provo City
Library Children’s Book Review
Bri Meets
Books (6/16)
Lit for
Kids (6/17)
Karin’s
Book Nook (6/19)
Not Just
for Kids (6/20)
Book Advice
(6/21)
The
Excelsior File (6/22)
Brimful
Curiosities (6/25)
SMS Book
Reviews (6/26)
Book Aunt
(6/27)
Chronicle of an Infant
Bibliofile (6/28)
In the
Pages (6/29)
Lori
Calabrese Writes (6/30)