Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb

by Francesca Simon, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

Overview

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 to 5

Horrid Henry and Moody Margaret are a perfect pair. Henry has a secret club that doesn't allow girls in. Margaret has a secret club just for girls, and both Henry and Margaret love to play pranks. But with Perfect Peter and Sour Susan acting as spies, which secret club will win? Plus three other stories that totally don't stink.

Francesca Simon is one of the world's best-loved children's authors. She is the only American to have ever won the Galaxy Book Award, and her creation, Horrid Henry, is the #1 bestselling chapter book series in the UK—with a hit TV show and over fi fteen million copies sold! Each book contains four easy-to-read stories and hilarious illustrations by the one and only Tony Ross, so even the most reluctant of readers won't be able to resist Henry's amazing talent for trouble!

"Will make you laugh out loud."—Sunday Times

Horrid Henry uses a stinkbomb as a toxic weapon in his war with Moody Margaret; uses all his tricks to win the school reading competition; goes on a sleepover; and has the joy of seeing his teacher in hot water with the principal.

A global publishing phenomenon with 12 million copies sold!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402246661
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	04/01/2009
Series:	Horrid Henry
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
Lexile:	480L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Francesca Simon was born in the United States and attended both Yale and Oxford universities. For ten years she worked as a freelance journalist. She now writes fulltime and has had many books published including the bestselling Horrid Henry series and several picture books. She lives in North London, England, with her husband, Martin, and her son, Josh.

Tony Ross is a prolific illustrator of books for children, including Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry series, Martyn Beardsley's Sir Gadabout stories - as well, of course, as his own stories. Over the past few years, Tony has become one of the best known creators of original and traditional picture books and his work has been sold all over the world. Tony Ross was born on August 10, 1938, in London. He trained at the Liverpool School of Art and has worked as a cartoonist, a graphic designer, as the Art Director of an advertising agency, filmmaker, and as Senior Lecturer in Art at Manchester Polytechnic.

Francesca Simon was born in the United States and attended both Yale and Oxford universities. A former journalist, she now writes full time. She lives in North London, England, with her husband, Martin, and her son, Josh

Tony Ross is a prolific illustrator of books for children, including Martyn Beardsley’s Sir Gadabout stories as well as his own. Tony has become one of the best known creators of original and traditional picture books, and his work has been sold all over the world.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpted from Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb

Story 1: Horrid Henry Reads a Book

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Miss Battle-Axe droned on and on and on. Horrid Henry drew pictures of crocodiles munching on a juicy Battle-Axe snack in his math book.

Snap! Off went her head.
Yank! Bye-bye leg.
Crunch! Ta-ta teeth.
Yum yum. Henry's crocodile had a big fat smile on its face.

Blah blah blah books blah blah blah read blah blah blah prize blah blah
…PRIZE?

Horrid Henry stopped doodling.
"What prize?" he shrieked.

"Don't shout out, Henry," said Miss Battle-Axe.

Horrid Henry waved his hand and shouted: "What prize?"

"Well, Henry, if you'd been paying attention instead of scribbling, you'd know, wouldn't you?" said Miss Battle-Axe.

Horrid Henry scowled. Typical teacher. You're interested enough in what they're saying to ask a question, and suddenly they don't want to answer.

"So, class, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," she glared at Horrid Henry. "You'll have two weeks to read as many books as you can for our school reading competition. Whoever reads the most books will win an exciting prize. A very exciting prize. But remember, a book report on every book on your list, please."

Oh. A reading competition. Horrid Henry slumped in his chair. Phooey.

Reading was hard, heavy work. Just turning the pages made Henry feel exhausted. Why couldn't they ever do fun competitions, like whose tummy could rumble the loudest, or who shouted out the most in class, or who knew the rudest words? Horrid Henry would win those competitions every time.

But no. Miss Battle-Axe would never have a fun competition. Well, no way was he taking part in a reading contest. Henry would just have to watch someone undeserving like Clever Clare or Brainy Brian swagger off with the prize while he sat prize-less at the back. It was so unfair!

"What's the prize?" shouted Moody Margaret.

Probably something awful like a pencil case, thought Horrid Henry. Or a bumper pack of school dish rags.

"Candy!" shouted Greedy Graham.
"A million bucks!" shouted Rude Ralph.
"Clothes!" shouted Gorgeous Gurinder.
"A skateboard!" shouted Aerobic Al.
"A hamster!" said Anxious Andrew.
"Silence!" bellowed Miss Battle-Axe.
"The prize is a family ticket to a brand new theme park."

Horrid Henry sat up. A theme park! Oh wow! He loved theme parks! Roller coasters! Water rides! Cotton candy!

His mean, horrible parents never took him to theme parks. They dragged him to museums. They hauled him on hikes. But if he won the competition, they'd have to
take him. He had to win that prize. He had to. But how could he win a reading competition without reading any books?

"Do comics count?" shouted Rude Ralph.

Horrid Henry's heart leapt.
He was king of the comic book readers. He'd easily win a comic book competition.

Miss Battle-Axe glared at Ralph with her beady eyes.

"Of course not!" she said. "Clare! How many books do you think you can read?"

"Fifteen," said Clever Clare.
"Brian?"
"Eighteen," said Brainy Brian.
"Nineteen," said Clare.
"Twenty," said Brian.

Horrid Henry smiled. Wouldn't they get a shock when he won the prize? He'd start reading the second he got home.

Table of Contents

1 Horrid Henry Reads a Book

2 Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb

3 Horrid Henry's School Project

4 Horrid Henry's Sleepover

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2-4

Once again, Horrid Henry lives up to his name. Each of these easy chapter books contains four episodes of the boy's escapades. Selfish and greedy, he battles with his teachers, cheats in a reading contest, and ruins a cousin's wedding. In one of the funniest segments, he is pitted against his family's houseguest, Mean Margaret, whose behavior is even more atrocious than his own. The irreverent humor is similar to that found in Roald Dahl's books or Jack Gantos's "Rotten Ralph" series. Ross's cartoon drawings are a perfect match for the protagonist's mischievous personality. There is not much character growth here; Henry remains unrepentantly horrid, and the other child characters (Perfect Peter, Clever Clare, Rude Ralph, etc.) are all one-sided. Though adults may wish for Henry to get reprimanded more sternly, kids will love reading the laugh-out-loud funny stories about someone whose behavior is even worse than their own.-Jackie Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

School Library Journal