Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman

Francesca Simon (illustrated by Tony Ross)

Horrid Henry was Alice’s school reading book for the week. She and I had just started reading Roald Dahl’s BFG together, so we alternated between the two: she read then I read. Nice.

The Horrid Henry series is all over us these days: beginner books, more advanced books, a TV cartoon – maybe a movie for all I know.

And actually they’re very good!

The reason is the character of Horrid Henry is very convincing. He’s a kid at odds with his parents; at war with his younger sibling (Perfect Peter); despised by his teachers; unpleasant to his neighbours; selfish and scheming – and given to great tantrums when things don’t go his way. Yet, he’s also treated quite unfairly.

This is something that kids seem to understand quite easily. Alice and Millie have always seemed to empathise more with Henry than with his cooperative and reasonable brother. But until I read this book (which incidentally is laugh-out-loud funny) I’d always seen Henry as a bit of a prick.

Alice and I discuss the issues confronting Horrid Henry:
Me: ‘He needs some time away from his brother. He only bothers Peter because he’s so bored.’
Alice: ‘Yes, like Millie bothers me.’
Me: ‘Maybe he’d be nicer to Peter if he had more to do?’
Alice: ‘His parents are really mean to him.’
Me: ‘Yes, they’re always sending him to his room.’
Alice: ‘And Peter’s always telling on him.’ (It’s true: Peter has an extremely low threshold for calling his mother.) ‘I don’t do that with Millie.’ (Well, that’s kind of true.)

The general rule is things don’t go well for Henry. He wants to make the best snowman, and to this end he vandalises Peter’s snowman, but somehow, inevitably, Peter gets the Snowman Prize. Henry’s howl of grief is terrible. The failure! The defeat! The rejection! The suffering that comes with having a bad reputation!

Now Henry’s favourite author is visiting his school. Henry is so excited – he’s dying to meet the author. You see, Henry has enthusiasms! It’s only a matter of time, though, before things go pear-shaped. Henry gets sent out the class at the key moment – just as the author is about to arrive. And it’s not even his fault! This time he has enough chutzpah to talk his way back to the lesson. For though he suffers, Henry is never completely defeated.

In child psychiatric terms, Henry suffers from Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). In this he differs from his predecessors – say Richmal Crompton’s William or Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn – who were merely naughty. Huckleberry Finn did not have tantrums! He deals with his drunken dad – oh yes – he ties him up with rope and scarpers! Forever! As for William, his world scarcely overlaps with the adult world at all. Most of the time he’s careening round the woods and villages with his pals. Horrid Henry, though, won’t be floating down the Mississippi anytime soon. For he is stuck – in the modern world of TV, traffic, parenting and limited space. He’s dealing with the grown-ups – he has to contest every inch of their world. It’s more like a Tom and Jerry type of situation.

Do Millie and Alice see any of themselves in Henry and Peter? They don’t seem to. They watch Henry’s antics with wry amusement, but in the end they both seem to take his side.