Horrid Henry and the Comfy Black Chair by Francesca Simon Review

Reviewed by Jo Flaherty

Horrid Henry is just about the right amount of Horrid. Well, just about the right amount of Horrid for young readers to enjoy, at least. And who, with a sibling of their own, hasn’t thought they were living with a bit of a Perfect Peter at times? In Horrid Henry and the Comfy Black Chair, Francesca Simon paints a perfect example of sibling one-upmanship, and the subtle every day battles, with Tony Ross’s distinctive illustrations. The story begins on Saturday – best day of the week, or so thinks Henry, however his plans for the morning soon come crashing down when Perfect Peter gets in the way with plans of his own.

This book is one of the Early Reader series from Orion Books – described as ‘stepping stones from picture books to reading stories’. Blue early readers are the first in the series; this Horrid Henry book is one of the red series – slightly more challenging and good for a child who is reading more freely, needing less supervision. The length of this book was just right for bedtime – although at 72 pages, it might be a little long for less confident readers to read in one go. However, the book is broken down into five more manageable chapters. My son, who’s seven and in year 2 read this with relative ease, although there was enough of a challenge to hold his interest.

The book is both a good early reader and a good introduction to Horrid Henry. Based on this book, we would probably buy more in the series so long as they were about the same level. The books themselves are good quality, the pictures are engaging and interesting and they represent good value at £4.99. I would recommend this for children of Reception age upwards.

Rating: 4/5

RRP: £4.99 (paperback) / £2.99 (Kindle)

Available to buy from Amazon here.