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Horrid Henry #2

Horrid Henry And The Secret Club

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Number One for Fiendish Fun!

This book contains the FIENDISH Nurse Needle, a secret club, an ANNOYING brother and a birthday party!

Four utterly hilarious and totally brilliant Horrid Henry stories by Francesca Simon, with illustrations by Tony Ross. An irresistible introduction to reading for pleasure.

145 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

62 people are currently reading
792 people want to read

About the author

Francesca Simon

386 books205 followers
Francesca Simon grew up in California and attended both Yale and Oxford Universities, where she specialised in Medieval Studies. How this prepared her to write children’s books she cannot imagine, but it did give her a thorough grounding in alliteration.

She then threw away a lucrative career as a medievalist and worked as a freelance journalist, writing for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Telegraph, and Vogue (US). After her son Joshua was born in 1989, she started writing children’s books full time. One of the UK’s best-selling children’s writers, Francesca has published over 50 books, including the immensely popular HORRID HENRY series, which has now sold over twelve million copies.

Francesca won the Children’s Book of the Year in 2008 at the British Book Awards for Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman. HORRID HENRY is published in 24 countries and is also an animated CITV series. She lives in London with her husband, son, and Tibetan Spaniel, Shanti.

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5 stars
646 (42%)
4 stars
372 (24%)
3 stars
337 (22%)
2 stars
104 (6%)
1 star
44 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Lotta Z.
161 reviews19 followers
August 24, 2025
Finally we did it! We finished it! My kids have been resisting reading time a lot this year! But this book is now finally finished! I'm so happy to have this off of my Goodreads list lol!! It has taken us a good long while to get this read, not the books fault I might add! We just weren't feeling the reading vibes!
Profile Image for Dhaneesha J..
13 reviews1 follower
February 27, 2021
So This book is totally full of laughter 🤣
It is to hard to say how much fun it is.This book's name is very nice so i knew it will be very good book 📚📚 Horrid Henry is my favourite character that is why my father bought this book for me........Bye bye 🙂
16 reviews
February 12, 2018
I think these books are funny, but a tad annoying. it's a bit of a bad example to kids (pretty sure my brother took some tips from henry)
Profile Image for Max R..
48 reviews
April 28, 2010
very funny!!!I can't really remember what happened as I read it ages ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 review
January 22, 2014
Erm erm horrid henry is going to steel money from the bank
12 reviews1 follower
March 24, 2012
‘Horrid Henry and the Secret Club’ by Francesca Simon is one of the books from the very popular Horrid Henry series. The story follows the main protagonist, Henry, whose bad behaviour infuriates his parents, teachers and even his local doctor. All his bad behaviour is in stark contrast to his very well behaved little brother, Perfect Peter.

This story makes good use of alliteration for the children’s names throughout (i.e. Greedy Graham and Weepy William). In this particular edition, Henry does everything he can to avoid an injection, plays pranks on Sour Susan and even manages to soak everyone at his own birthday party!

This particular book is broken down into four different chapters and the book features some rough style sketches for illustrations, reminiscent of the drawings used for Roald Dahl’s books. Bearing in mind the content, themes and language used, I would recommend these books for use by Year 4 or Year 5 children.
Profile Image for Sankhalp.
12 reviews3 followers
July 22, 2015
The book was very funny. I really liked the way the boy Henry thought of ways to get rid of the moody grouch, Margaret.
Profile Image for John Naylor.
929 reviews22 followers
May 2, 2020
Four more unconnected stories in the second book in this series.

One of them does hint at some comeuppance for Henry but he is mostly unpunished for his actions still. Suitable for very new readers with help. Based in the first two books in the series I understand the appeal of them without ever feeling that they are superior to other series that are aimed at the same age group.
3 reviews
March 29, 2019
I really like this book because it's very funny and I like how the stories always end at "horrid Henry and the secret club". Henry always has plans that makes something horrible. But I don't like "perfect" Peter because he should be always perfect.
This book is very nice and I recommend those books for kids who are sly.
Profile Image for The Half-blood Reader.
1,110 reviews50 followers
December 22, 2015
This is why I was through with these books after three tiny volumes of basic writing (despite the fast reading): most of the characters mess with my nerves immensely, I just can't stand them! I just don't enjoy myself, and if I saw my little cousins reading this with delight, I would slap some of my good children-targeted books beneath their tiny noses. (like the Foxwood Tales)

Once again, - I take a deep breath - the parents and their little ball of joy, Perfect Peter (who would make a perfect prefect).

Peter expects to be complimented on things my parents expected me to do without a blink, as my duty as a civilized human-being and as someone with common sense. He expects compliments for sitting at the table, eating properly and with tableware, for not messing with food (who would compliment anyone for that?! It's common sense!), etc... He obviously only behaves well to get attention from grown-ups, it's sad.

The parents however, only live to reprimand Henry, without even looking at what the two siblings are really doing. And their favouritism is so visible, even when Peter clearly does something wrong, they still argument with idiotic sentences like "If Peter called you names, it's because you provoked him!" Also, I despise parents who admonish children by mistakes they didn't do on purpose, like breaking dishes. Anyone can have an accident, and making someone feel bad about failing (specially when it's something whose avoidance was not on their power) is not a positive reinforcement.

Lastly, as for "The Secret Club" story, Henry and Moody Margaret are too much alike and they would make the perfect duo of mischief. Too bad they haven't realized it. Or too bad if they do, since the neighbourhood will get a lot less friendly and peaceful.
12 reviews
March 26, 2015
I read this Horrid Henry book as the series are a bit of a craze amoungst my year 4 children at the moment.

The book is broken into four stand alone stories (Horrid Henry's Injection, Horrid Henry and the Secret Club, Perfect Peter's Horrid Day, Horrid Henry's Birthday Party), all based around the character of Horrid Henry. These stories are fun to read and will be engaging for all children as they draw on experiences most children will of had.

The language of these books is fantastic. The alliteration of each character's name (Horrid Henry, Weepy William, Perfect Peter) gives the story a poetic flow and makes it fun to read. Either the character's characteristics or job are outlined in their name (Nurse Needle). This immediately creates an image of the character in a child's mind. Various language features and literacy devices are used to great effect throughout the book such as ellipses, capital letters for emphasis, repetition and speech. The text is complimented every few pages with cartoon illustrations which add to the action or character descriptions.

I can see why these books have been very popular. I think this book would be most effective for independent reading as it is very accessible. I would suggest this book to 7 - 9 year olds.

334 reviews37 followers
March 11, 2011
Wheeeww ni buku bener2 parah.. Horrid banget deh pokoknya si Henry itu. Kacau. Macam anak2 kecil cowo yang jahilnya naudzubilah. Walaupun pengecut juga (karena takut disuntik). Nama tokoh2 nya lucu2.. kaya Sour Susan, Moody Margaret, Perfect Peter, Lazy Linda.. jadi tiap nama itu menggambarkan sifat si orangnya. Buku ini ternyata terdiri dari beberapa cerita lepas, macam cerpen gitu.
Lucu sih, tapi Horrid Henry kan favoritnya awful child, jadinya ya GEMEESS tiap dia nakal!
11 reviews1 follower
September 20, 2013
As the title suggests 'Horrid Henry', Henry is as horrid as can be and the irony of this book is that his brother is known as 'Perfect Peter'. This book creates a setting for imagination very well, as you imagine how Henry imagines his plans and executes them. The book can be read by all ages, but for independent reading the children should be in Year2 or above. The front cover is appealing and can instigate an instant attraction.
Profile Image for Martha Faë.
Author 17 books20 followers
March 30, 2016
Not my favorite, definitely. Though it has some things that can be funny, I don't like the general tone. I don't like Henry being so (but soooo) horrid. It is too much to me and I don't think that's a good example to give to children. I'm not saying that we should give children perfectly well behaved characters (I didn't like Henry's brother, Perfect Peter either), but Henty got a bit on my nerves.
Profile Image for The Styling Librarian.
2,170 reviews194 followers
January 5, 2013
Horrid Henry and the Secret Club by Francesca Simon - decided to read aloud this book series with my son. It is quite amusing. Honestly, I don't know how much I'll tolerate reading it though. Reminds me of Rotten Ralph series by Jack Gantos which I appreciate initially but overall needed to take a long break from it.
Profile Image for Florrie.
8 reviews
October 3, 2008
Horrid henry was making a club against the evil moody Margaret. then one of moody margaret team mates joined henrys camp and told him all the secrets. at the same time henry companion joined Margaret's camp so it was a matter of time until there was war.
Profile Image for Joseph Helou.
22 reviews
March 23, 2011
this was ok but was not as good as the last one. all these books have a little comedy which makes them good.
Profile Image for Ursula.
195 reviews1 follower
April 10, 2014
Haha I loved these books so much, I found them hilarious and I still do!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

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