Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

Horrible Harry #3

by Suzy Kline

For Harry, his second grade classroom, Room 2B, is the best place in the world. His teacher, Miss Mackle, is setting up an ant farm. And Harry is sure he will be chosen to take care of the creepy, crawly critters. After all, no one loves horrible things, like ants, more than Harry.

When Horrible Harry and his classmates send ants climbing up the stairs of the school, no one is shocked. Find out why, and join Harry in three more adventures (including one with a deadly fish tank) in this lively audio production.

The Horrible Harry series receives praise from teachers and librarians across the country. They know how irresistible the combination of squirmy things and a curious second grader is to young listeners. Noted for his spirited readings of children’s books, narrator Johnny Heller underscores young Harry’s wonderful imagination and humor in his performance.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Chapter Books, Humor, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Suzy Kline, nee Weaver, was an elementary school teacher for 25 years and most of her books are based on the experiences she had while teaching. Suzy and Rufus got married and had two daughters named Jennifer and Emily. Now, more than 24 years after writing her first book, Suzy has traveled all over the United States helping children learn how to enjoy reading and writing.

Reviews

[Pooja Banga · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is entertaining ..It was a good read for me .So far I have loved the series..
As I have said about series other books also I will say for this book also this book is recommended to all ..U will have a good time reading it ..
Short summary-Harry is back, along with Miss Mackle and the entire class of Rooom 2B. Harry's name always spells trouble, but no matter what he does, it's always hilarious. "Room 2B is every child's dream".--School Library Journal. Illustrated.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline is the third in the series and the second one I've read. I keep thinking my son would like them but he's not interested in them. So I'm reading the series for my own fun.

Things begin with Harry's teacher setting up an ant farm in the classroom to go with the other pets. I've never personally had a teacher who has kept pets, except for a summer school biology class that had a pair of rats. Harry who is friend to all living things and fascinated by insects volunteers to take care of the ants. Although he and his teacher are careful, some of the ants get loose.

A later chapter exemplifies why I think my son would like the series. The classroom has a tank of tropical fish that must be kept in water of a certain temperature. One day some of the fish are found floating in the tank, dead. Harry, being the odd ball of the class is accused. Harry though, as demonstrated earlier in the book doesn't like hurting animals of any sort. He's like my son who will rescue snails and worms after it rains.

Harry is "horrible" only in that he's unconventional. He's not a bad child. He's just interested in things that the other kids in his class aren't. Although he's called horrible he's usually the catalyst for the class as they come up with new ways of learning their subjects.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It is about a kid named Doug and his good friend harry. Doug is also the narrator of the story The story takes place in their science class. They are very interested in science. That is what they want to be when they grow up. When their teacher brings an ant farm and assigns roles to the students, Harry decides to be the ant monitor. One day when one ant goes missing, the teacher asks the students to not touch the ants because they will bite you. Harry puts some peanut butter on his finger because he thinks that that will attract the ants towards him. Harry does not listen to the instructions and grabs one of the ants with his finger. The teacher gets very upset with Harry because the ant bit his finger and it swoll up. As a consequence of harry's actions, Harry is no longer ant monitor. Afterwards when someone burns the ants, Harry is blamed for it. Even though it was a kid named Sydney who was responsible for burning the ants. He did it because he was mad at Harry. But the girl that harry likes saw that Sydney was the one that was messing with the thermostat and that is why the ants burned. So Song Lee, which is the name of the girl that Harry likes, told their teacher and Sydney got punished for it. Since Sydney became the ant monitor after Harry, Harry was re-assigned ant monitor again.

[Brett W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eva loved this book because Horrible Harry reminds her of me.

[Kaotic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute and fun, with some serious tones that are an appropriate level for kids. Love it.

I also love how each of the books have been dedicated to a class that seemed to inspire it.

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Readers,

This is a book about Harry is the fish monitor so he have to be responsible to it. one day just before lunch Harry fed the fish. After recess, every one found out that one of the fish died because the temperature is too high and every one looked at Harry ‘cause Harry is the ant monitor. On the way home Doug asked him why? For killing the fish Harry said, “I would never take a life of a single living thing.” Doug believe him. On the next day Miss Mackle ask if Harry really did trang the temperature She ask if any one saw something else a girl named Song Lee who never raised her hand raised her hand, Miss Mackle asked her and she said before lunch she saw sidney was beside the fish tank and at the end they found out that Sidney is the one who killed the fish.

This are some Character treats that describe Harry.
Insect lover: Harry said to Miss Mackle, “can I be the ant monitor Miss Mackle?”
Kind: “I would never take a life of a single living thing.”
Responsible: He fed the fish before he went to lunch.

[Andrew J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teacher of mine read this book to me and my class sometime in grade school. My best guess is that it was in '95 or '96. *shrugs*

I vaguely -- vaguely -- remember my first grade teacher reading us books, and occasionally laughing about something herself. I'm pretty sure it was her that read us this book.

What's interesting is that Harry doesn't seem to be the character "telling the stories." It's actually Doug, Harry's best friend. There's four stories. One about ants ("...and the Ant Invasion"), one about learning how to dance ("...and the Square Dance"), one about fish ("...and the Deadly Fish Tank"), and one about a class picture being taken ("...and the Class Picture"). I mostly remembered the ant story.

Even though the pictures that appear from time to time do not always quite match what is being described in the text, it's cute.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrible Harry and his 2nd grade classmates in room 2B return with Doug telling the events of the story as they learn new words that have the word "ant" in them, learn to square dance, solve the mystery of who killed one of the class fishes, and have their class photo taken. There is a continuity flaw. In Harry and The Green Slime Song Lee said she has be in America for a year, and in this story Doug mentions that Harry has had a crush on Song Lee since kindergarten.

[Della Tingle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn’t so much a chapter book as a collection of four short stories about Harry, otherwise known as Horrible Harry. I have never read a Horrible Harry book before. I didn’t feel like he was horrible. He’s really just normal, I think, or maybe I am around “horrible” behavior at my school so much that Harry seems mild by comparison.

“Sometimes when Harry tells you he’s going to do something, he leaves the horrible part out” (35).

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry still doesn't seem that horrible. He volunteers to be ant monitor when the class gets an ant farm. Not only does he not make a mess of it, he's helpful when it does get messy. There's also a square dance, which is uneventful, and picture day, which is uneventful. And a story where Sidney is mean to Song Lee, so Harry is mean to Sidney, so Sidney is mean to Harry. Honestly, Sidney is the horrible one.

[Thatmelosuccs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another tale from Doug Oceller, this story tells the tale of how Harry wanted to start another Manhattan Incident as he was visited by a mysterious Revolver Ocelot, who promised him all sorts of riches if he complied, this as it usually does end with Miss Mackle(more) getting abducted by the Ant’s master, a man only known as Liquid Doug and the class having to go save her.

[Kenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Ember:
After reading Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline I would recommend you to read this book. My favorite part is when the class is taking their school picture and the photographer makes them say funny things. You should read this book if you want to laugh.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrible Harry

Entertaining book for young readers. Harry does do one horrible things but has some redeeming qualities. This book will definitely make you smile and shake your head from disbelief.

[Joy Keil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of a large series of fun stories following the antics of Doug, Harry and their friends through 2nd and 3rd grades. Excellent to listen to (available on Hoopla), and usually around 30-45 min, these are enjoyable for kids and adults alike. I highly recommend for your next car ride!

[Alice Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was funny.

Read 2x, once with mom and once with dad.

[Matthew]

he´s brave with ants

[Elyse Schramm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this with the kids there was no continuity with the actual story, and the kids were bored out of their minds.

[Meg Mirza]

A few of these stories end quite abruptly.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, these in 2B are almost all 3.5 stars. I will keep reading them whenever I get a chance to. They are often in LFLs so yay.

[Lisa Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was the end?!

When I finished the last page, the book ended suddenly, without closure. It was like the author just said, I’m tired of this. I think it’s done.

[Trevor Ames · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry is a little horrible, but Sidney is worse.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really remember any of the characters besides Doug, Harry and Song Lee, but Sidney is my #1 enemy.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd grade 2017

[Sally Staples · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Horrible Harry books are cute. This one is about the ant invasion. The class ordered more ants, but two ants got loose. The children were not to touch the ants, just tell the teacher if they found them. Harry found the ants, but he got bit by them because he was holding them. Needless to say he got in trouble for touching the ants. Another chapter in this book was about square dancing. Harry got to be Song Lee's partner, but when Sidney was Song Lee's partner, he bumped into her because he had his eyes shut. This upset Harry, so after school he got even with Sidney and put ice water down his back. The next day, Sidney got even with Harry by turning the temperature up on the fish tank which ended up killing the black molly fish. Everyone blamed Harry for killing the fish because he was the fish monitor, but it was really Sidney. Cute story about events that might occur at school for children to read about.

[Dollytomp]

This is a great book. This teaches kids if you stay in trouble a lot and when you are innocent people do not believe you because you were always in trouble so this teaches the kids to be good to everyone. Harry, is a kid that gets into trouble a lot. He got in trouble by touching the ants when he was not suppose to. He got in trouble for having his baseball cards out during class. Then he pour ice down Sidney back and Sidney said he would pay him back. Then a fish dies because someone turned the heater up and everyone thought it was Harry which it turned out to be Sidney. Sidney wanted to get back at Harry for pour ice water down his back and he knew that Harry was in charge of monitoring the fish. Sidney turned the fish tank heater up and it killed the fish (black molly). Then it was picture day and all the kids in the classroom was all dressed up to get there class picture taken. Harry and Song Lee held the class sign.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another interesting story in the Horrible Harry series by Suzy Kline and Frank Remkiewicz. We've read several of the books in this series and found them to be funny, short, and entertaining.

This book seems to be less of one continuous tale and more like four separate short stories. There are two tales about class pets, one about square dancing, and one about class pictures. Despite the lack of continuity between the chapters, it was an entertaining and short book and we enjoyed reading it together. We will be sure to read more of the books in this series soon.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book ¨Ḧorrible Harry and the Ant Invasion¨ is a book about responsibility and intelligence.Harry is the main character and he has some responsibility in the beginning,but if you read the book in the middle and the end,Harry has no responsibility.My favorite part in the book is when all the students had to dance, and do something fancy like to bow and to curtsy.My favorite character was Sidney.I like when Harry poured water down Sidneyś back.Then Sidney came to school the next day and killed the black molly,and blamed it on Harry because he was the fish monitor.This was a cool book to read and I will recommend this book to a person that likes surprising stories.

[Caterpickles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harry loves to do horrible things, and The Eight-Year-Old loves to read about him doing it. Every day this week, she brought home a different Horrible Harry book from the stash in her third grade classroom, and every day I heard her giggling her way through them all. Except for yesterday. Yesterday’s book was Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion, and The Eight-Year-Old didn’t enjoy that one much at all.

The Eight-Year-Old’s review: “It was kind of creepy, Mommyo. Tell the folks at Caterpickles I think they should read all the Horrible Harry books except Ant Invasion.”

Review originally posted on my blog Caterpickles.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry once again show shows both his good intentions and his mischievous side. In one arc he captures some ants for a class project. The other arc involves the teachers’ attempts to teach the kids to square dance---as usual, most of the kids are repelled or put off by it, but Harry desperately wants to dance with Song Lee. In another arc, the class fish dies and Harry is, unsurprisingly blamed for it. But did he really do it? Another involves the class picture, but none of the kids want to smile for it, leaving the photographer to rely on his wits.

[DavidO · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's about a kid nick-named "Horrible Harry". I thought it would be funnier and there would be some kind of plot, but it is only mildly funny and collection of 4 stories about the same characters without much overall plot. I couldn't recommend it for anyone over the age of 7, and even then only boys. I don't think girls would like it at all.