Horrid Henry Annual 2015 by Francesca Simon Review
Reviewed by Jo Knox
New material from Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross. With a nightmare, scary and spooky theme with quizzes, jokes and activities along with taster extracts from some of the stories in the series of books, this annual is packed full of fun things to read and do.
My 8 year old daughter, Lauren, gave some views on what she enjoyed. In particular, she liked how bright the colours were and the quizzes and puzzles grabbed her attention the most. There is a constant theme of alliteration from start to finish with the names of the characters and the activities. One favourite was the ‘Poltergeist Puzzle’ which was a spot the difference. This was done cleverly to challenge the child as the picture for comparison was on the next page, this made it more challenging, encouraging use of memory.
Another favourite was ‘Clever Claire’s Christmas Quiz’. Lauren enjoyed challenging herself on the questions and then being able to mark them herself from the answers at the back of the book and didn’t do bad with a score of 5/8 and a promise that she didn’t cheat! The questions were about Horrid Henry and his family at Christmas and then some about the usual traditions. My favourite one was Lauren’s response to what you are traditionally supposed to do on the twelfth night of Christmas and instead of selecting ‘take down the decorations’, Lauren chose that she would ‘finish all the chocolates’. This definitely sounds like the right answer to me!
It is good to see that the activities and quizzes were mixed with Horrid Henry facts and something more educational. For example, one clever quiz incorporates being able to tell the time to get the right letters to find out a special guest at Perfect Peter’s party. Another is a crossword puzzle where the answers complete the words for some comical jokes. Sudoku, word-searches and mazes all feature and follow the nightmares and scary theme.
There are some activities which can easily be found in the contents list at the front of the book which require additional materials, There is a finger trick, a paper chain and one which requires a bucket of water! Lauren hasn’t done that yet…..
The extracts of stories from books in the Horrid Henry series is a smart addition by the editors and it definitely works as Lauren now has a list of which books she wants to read next (these are all illustrated in a list at the back of the annual to assist).
I was a little disappointed with the glow in the dark cover because whilst there was something glowing, it didn’t really reflect the ghouls and ghosts it was trying to. We had to switch the light on to see what we are supposed to be seeing. This could have been done much more effectively. However, the cover didn’t detract from all the fun inside.
I would say that this annual is perfect for 7-10 year olds who would be able to complete the puzzles, quizzes and read the short taster extracts with ease and enjoyment. Children under this age may require some assistance. Whilst it is fun packed, the RRP £7.99 is a little expensive in my opinion.
This read is definitely not Horrid!
Rating: 4/5
RRP: £7.99
Available to buy from www.orionbooks.co.uk.
