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| Horrid Henry | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Francesca Simon |
| Original work | Horrid Henry (1994) |
| Owners |
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| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Horrid Henry: The Movie |
| Television series | Horrid Henry |
| Official website | |
| horridhenry horridhenry | |
Horrid Henry is a children's book series by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross. It has been adapted for television, film [1] and theatre. [2]
The first Horrid Henry book was written and published in 1994 by Orion Books. Up until 2015, 24 official Horrid Henry titles were published in the series with a special one-off 25th Anniversary book, published in 2019. The series has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. [3]
The books are a slice-of-life series featuring the titular Henry, a wildly misbehaved boy who will typically be faced with a problem and then will often retaliate in interesting ways that involve trickery, rule-breaking and elaborate practical jokes. Henry has a younger brother, Perfect Peter, who is the exact opposite. [4] Almost every character is known by an alliterative nickname (Rude Ralph, Moody Margaret, Brainy Brian, etc.) with a few exceptions e.g. Mum, Dad and Miss Battle-Axe. According to Francesca Simon, she got the idea for the Horrid Henry books when a friend asked her to write a story about a horrid child. She also wanted to write about sibling rivalry and families where one child was considered "perfect" and the other "horrid". Many of the books' stories were inspired by events from Simon's life and those of people that she knew, with additional ideas coming from her imagination. Inspiration also came from her own childhood, growing up in California the eldest of four, desperately wanting to be an only one. They lived in very small houses so there was, in Simon's words, "that feeling of all being squished together in not enough space, with my dad (Mayo Simon) writing away upstairs and telling us to be quiet". [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
The Horrid Henry stories are read on audiobook by actress Miranda Richardson and published by Orion Audio. Released between 2000 and 2019, the audiobooks were produced by Peter Rinne and Nicholas Jones (for Strathmore Publishing), with music composed by Rinne and Dik Cadbury. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Each title in the main series consists of four short stories with black and white illustrations. The titles in the Early Readers series, aimed at younger readers, each consist of a single story with colour illustrations. Each story in that series, except Don't Be Horrid, Henry!, was originally published in a main series title. Don't Be Horrid, Henry! is an original story about Henry as a toddler. Eleven fact books, written from Henry's point of view, have also been published along with eight joke books, eleven colour books and at least twelve activity books as well as a series of annuals.
Horrid Henry is published in 25 languages around the world. In April 2009, the US Sourcebooks' Jabberwocky imprint released four Horrid Henry paperbacks nationwide, which included Horrid Henry, Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb, Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine" and Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy. Sourcebooks has released additional Horrid Henry titles including activity pages, event kits and a teacher's guide. [17]
| Pre-2019 title | Year of first publication | Current title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horrid Henry | 1994 | Horrid Henry | Series premiere and originally intended to be a single-book |
| Horrid Henry and the Secret Club | 1995 | Horrid Henry: Secret Club | |
| Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy | 1996 | Horrid Henry: Tricking the Tooth Fairy | Originally published as Horrid Henry and the Tooth Fairy |
| Horrid Henry's Nits | 1997 | Horrid Henry: Nits Nits Nits! | Also published internationally as Horrid Henry's Head Lice |
| Horrid Henry Gets Rich Quick | 1998 | Horrid Henry: Get Rich Quick | Originally published as Horrid Henry Strikes It Rich |
| Horrid Henry's Haunted House | 1999 | Horrid Henry: The Haunted House | |
| Horrid Henry and The Mummy's Curse | 2000 | Horrid Henry: The Mummy's Curse | |
| Horrid Henry's Revenge | 2001 | Horrid Henry: Perfect Revenge | |
| Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter | 2002 | Horrid Henry: Bogey Babysitter | |
| Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb | 2002 | Horrid Henry: Stinkbombs | |
| Horrid Henry's Underpants | 2003 | Horrid Henry: Underpants Panic | |
| Horrid Henry Meets The Queen | 2004 | Horrid Henry: The Queen's Visit | |
| Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine | 2005 | Horrid Henry: Mega-Mean Time Machine | |
| Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend | 2006 | Horrid Henry: Football Fiend | Published internationally as Horrid Henry and the Soccer Fiend |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas Cracker | 2006 | Horrid Henry: Christmas Cracker | |
| Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman | 2007 | Horrid Henry: Abominable Snowman | |
| Horrid Henry Robs The Bank | 2008 | Horrid Henry: Bank Robber | |
| Horrid Henry Wakes The Dead | 2009 | Horrid Henry: Waking the Dead | |
| Horrid Henry Rocks! | 2010 | Horrid Henry: Rock Star | |
| Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Zombie Vampire | |
| Horrid Henry's Monster Movie | 2012 | Horrid Henry: Monster Movie | |
| Horrid Henry's Nightmare | 2013 | Horrid Henry: Nightmare | |
| Horrid Henry's Krazy Ketchup | 2014 | Horrid Henry: Krazy Ketchup | |
| Horrid Henry's Cannibal Curse | 2015 | Horrid Henry: Cannibal Curse | |
| N/A | 2019 | Horrid Henry: Up, Up and Away! | |
| Title | Year of first publication | Story originally published in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don't Be Horrid, Henry! | 2000 | N/A (original story) | Originally illustrated by Kevin McAleenan. Current illustrations by Tony Ross adopted in 2006. |
| Horrid Henry's Birthday Party | 2009 | Horrid Henry: Secret Club | |
| Horrid Henry's Holiday | 2009 | Horrid Henry (first book) | |
| Horrid Henry's Underpants | 2009 | Horrid Henry: Underpants Panic | |
| Horrid Henry Gets Rich Quick | 2010 | Horrid Henry: Get Rich Quick | |
| Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend | 2010 | Horrid Henry: Football Fiend | |
| Horrid Henry's Nits | 2010 | Horrid Henry: Nits!, Nits!, Nits! | |
| Horrid Henry and Moody Margaret | 2010 | Horrid Henry (first book) | |
| Horrid Henry's Thank You Letter | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Underpants Panic | |
| Horrid Henry Reads a Book | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Stinkbombs | |
| Horrid Henry's Car Journey | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Bogey Babysitter | |
| Moody Margaret's School | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Bank Robber | |
| Horrid Henry Tricks and Treats | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Bogey Babysitter | |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas Play | 2011 | Horrid Henry: Christmas Cracker | |
| Horrid Henry's Rainy Day | 2012 | Horrid Henry: Abominable Snowman | |
| Horrid Henry Meets the Queen | 2012 | Horrid Henry: The Queen's Visit | |
| Horrid Henry's Sports Day | 2012 | Horrid Henry: Get Rich Quick | |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas Presents | 2012 | Horrid Henry: Christmas Cracker | |
| Moody Margaret's Makeover | 2013 | Horrid Henry: Abominable Snowman | |
| Horrid Henry and the Demon Dinner Lady | 2013 | Horrid Henry: Perfect Revenge | |
| Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy | 2013 | Horrid Henry: Tricking the Tooth Fairy | |
| Horrid Henry's Homework | 2013 | Horrid Henry: The Mummy's Curse | |
| Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter | 2013 | Horrid Henry: Bogey Babysitter | |
| Horrid Henry's Sleepover | 2014 | Horrid Henry: Stinkbombs | |
| Horrid Henry's Wedding | 2014 | Horrid Henry: Tricking the Tooth Fairy | |
| Horrid Henry's Haunted House | 2014 | Horrid Henry: The Haunted House | |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas Lunch | 2014 | Horrid Henry: Christmas Cracker | |
| Horrid Henry's Mother's Day | 2015 | Horrid Henry: Nightmare | |
| Horrid Henry and the Comfy Black Chair | 2015 | Horrid Henry: The Haunted House | |
| Horrid Henry and the Mummy's Curse | 2015 | Horrid Henry: The Mummy's Curse | |
| Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman | 2015 | Horrid Henry: Abominable Snowman | |
| Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine | 2016 | Horrid Henry: Mega-Mean Time Machine | |
| Horrid Henry and the Fangmangler | 2016 | Horrid Henry: Nits, Nits, Nits | |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas Ambush | 2016 | Horrid Henry: Christmas Cracker | |
| Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb | 2016 | Horrid Henry: Stinkbombs | |
| Horrid Henry's Swimming Lesson | 2017 | Horrid Henry: The Mummy's Curse | |
| Horrid Henry's Christmas | 2017 | Horrid Henry: Get Rich Quick | |
| Horrid Henry's School Fair | 2018 | Horrid Henry: The Haunted House | |
| Horrid Henry and the Zombie Vampire | 2018 | Horrid Henry: Zombie Vampire | |
| Horrid Henry's Hike | 2018 | Horrid Henry: Mega-Mean Time Machine | |
| Horrid Henry's Injection | 2019 | Horrid Henry: Secret Club | |
| Horrid Henry's Nightmare | 2019 | Horrid Henry: Nightmare | |
| Horrid Henry's Newspaper | 2020 | Horrid Henry: Bank Robber | |
| Title | Year of first publication |
|---|---|
| Horrid Henry's Bodies | 2011 |
| Horrid Henry's Dinosaurs | 2011 |
| Horrid Henry's Sports | 2011 |
| Horrid Henry's Food | 2012 |
| Horrid Henry's Bugs | 2013 |
| Horrid Henry's Kings and Queens | 2013 |
| Horrid Henry's World Records | 2013 |
| Horrid Henry's Animals | 2014 |
| Horrid Henry's Ghosts | 2014 |
| Horrid Henry's Space | 2015 |
| Horrid Henry's Crazy Creatures | 2015 |
On 23 June 2010, Vertigo Films announced that a live action 3-D film of Horrid Henry was in production. The film's plot focuses on Henry and The Purple Hand Gang fighting to prevent the closure of their school by an evil private school Headmaster. [18] The film was released on 29 July 2011 in the United Kingdom and 11 January 2013 in Australia.
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The idea for Horrid Henry came about when an illustrator friend of Francesca Simon's asked her to write a book about a naughty child, as she was fed up of drawing angelic children! As the eldest of four children, Simon also wanted to write about the relationships between brothers and sisters, and so she created Perfect Peter. Although she says she adores Peter, Simon admits that Henry is most people's favourite; he is the "imp inside everyone" and of course it's "sometimes great to let that imp out"!
I get my ideas from things that happen to me, or to people I know, or from my imagination. I think of ordinary situations, like birthday parties or getting nits, and then add a "horrid" twist. So if my son, Josh, has to have an injection, I think of how Henry would behave.
