Horrid Henry Meets the Queen

Horrid Henry #12

by Francesca Simon

In these four stories the Queen is coming to visit Horrid Henry's school, he tries to hypnotise Moody Margaret, he tricks Perfect Peter into doing his household chores and Horrid Henry has a bath.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Humor

73 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Aryan Lal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horrid Henry tells Peter horrible things about the queen like if someone says something wrong when she or he is talking to the queen, their head would be chopped off. Can Peter be brave enough to push out all of Henry's horrid words and speak to the queen without getting scared?

[Pipa Guest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry gets up to his tricks again when the Queen visits his school.

[Joe Cleary · Rating 4 out of 5]

i only like the book cos i think the queen is a kool kid

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can’t imagine the queen was very impressed by this visit!

[Kerrie Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this whilst in lockdown with my key worker bubble. At one point they were laughing out loud! Easy language for upper KS1/lower KS2!

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a great book I recommend it

[Pilar González · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una historia para niños súper divertida

[Zeenat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of the very famous series of Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon. Henry is always up to no good and is getting into trouble by his parents and teachers. He also has a younger brother called Perfect Peter who is the total opposite to Henry. Henry does not like Peter being praised for everything he does and therefore annoys him.

In this particular story Perfect Peter has been given the opportunity to meet the queen at school which Henry dislikes. He also wants to meet the queen and ask her how many TV’s she has. Seeing Peter practice annoys Henry so he offers to help. However Horrid Henry’s help is not very helpful as he tells Peter to curtesy when he sees the queen and put his thumb on his nose wriggle his fingers. Henry also tells Peter that the queen can take him to the tower and chop his head off if he does not do what Henry has showed him. Poor Peter gets very nervous on the actual day when he meets the queen that he does what Horrid Henry had told him to! Horrid Henry also does more mischievous acts to find out how many TV’s the queen has.

Horrid Henry is not only famous as a book but as a TV programme which children from the age of 4 watch and enjoy. The book itself can be read independently by children of seven years of age and over, so from year 3. This particular story can be used in classrooms to enable children to write letters to the queen with their choice of questions they would like to ask.

[Shereil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really quite relevant as I read it as part of my narrative topic coming up to the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Henry is angry that Perfect Peter will meet the Queen instead of him and tricks him into doing lots of silly things like pulling rude faces and gestures. The children were really engrossed by this story and loved the imagery used. They were excited about the mention of the Queen and were happy to correct the actions of Henry if they should meet the Queen themselves. I thought the book was a little risky at times because the children could be led into a false sense of belief that it is alright to act as Henry does. For example when he does not do want to take a bath at the beginning of this four part book, there is a lack of consequences for his poor behaviour. However, I did enjoy the fact that many children who are perhaps targeted as the ‘naughty’ children could use these books to identify with Henry at times. Overall the children enjoyed the book and many of them already were familiar with the characters which provided further joy.

[Adrian Buck · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 8yo was delighted this celebration of bad(dish) behavior, but I was disappointed with the tremendously poor value for money this book represented. A slim volume for six quid, containing four stories, each consisting of so few words so widely spaced I thought it might have been intended as a early-readers text. The narrative was so thin it often read more like a screenplay than a story.

I was also a bit disconcerted about the abuse Queenie gets: Rotten Johnny a predecessor of Horrid Henry?

[Rumena Khatun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is perfect for the Jubilee celebrations. In the story, The Queen is about to visit Henry's school and as usual perfect Peter is chosen to welcome the Queen. But whenever Henry's around there is bound to be trouble. Henry is a lovable rogue who children can relate to who has fun and outrageous adventures.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because each chapter is easier to think about than other stories. EACH STORY DESERVES 5 SOLID STARS!

This is one of the best books ever!

Title: Horrid Henry Meets the Queen
Author: Francesca Simon

[Mariam Abood · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm not mistaken, I think this was the first book I ever bought independently. A very funny read, and I have a lot of fond memories associated with this book. Possibly my favourite Horrid Henry book, but it's definitely in my top three. It's a contender, a wonderful book for all ages.

[Krishan Nanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nice beacse it has many jokes that he makes keeps on asking the queen how many tv sets she has and give him one.
Francesca Simon

[Max R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny!!!I can't really remember what happened as I read it ages ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

henry is really horrible!:(

[John Doe · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book:)

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrid henry gets chosen to give the queen flowers and has to show some maners..... Good luck henry

[Seungmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

short but fun

[Maitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter read it. Although she found it funny but she still thinks it deserves three stars. (whispering: maybe because it's a book about a boy) But I think the book is fabulously written.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love Horrid Henry!

[Ursula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my goodness! I died laughing reading this back! I understand why I loved these so much and why they are so popular, I will never get rid of my books!

[Katy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, Francesca Simon, for getting my son through the library reading challenge when he was seven.

[Kevin Gilfillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben says 5 stars because it's so good!

[Hm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not bad

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

He does meet the queen at the end. The last few words were quite funny. I read it very quickly in one go.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of my childhood books..aahhhh..

[Kirsty Searle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it's awesome