Horrid Henry's Fearsome Four by Francesca Simon

Full colour bind-up gift book of four Horrid Henry Early Reader stories - including Horrid Henry's Birthday Party, Horrid Henry's Underpants, Horrid Henry's Nits and Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend. Early Readers - your child's stepping stone from picture books to reading books.

My children have always loved Horrid Henry and we have the whole series of book and seen the television programmes many times. When my son began to want to read independently, he wanted to try the Horrid Henry book but, at the time, were too complicated for him. I then found the Early Readers series of Horrid Henry books which have been brought down a reading level and are perfect for children wanting to read more 'grown up' books (with chapters). Many of the early reader books in the past have been uninspiring and boring for children, outdated and poor stories, however these books are fantastic! My son loves reading them and even though he reads the original books, he still likes to come back to the Early Readers,

This book contains four Early Reader titles: Horrid Henry's Birthday Party, Horrid Henry's Underpants; Horrid Henry's Nits and Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend. Each of these stories have been included in the original Horrid Henry books but have been revamped for Early Readers. They are still accompanied by Tony Ross's fantastic illustrations which are in colour and are the perfect accompaniment to the stories, giving children a 'hint' on the story while they are reading.

I would highly recommend this book as a fantastic gift for any Horrid Henry fan who is beginning to gain confidence in reading or for younger children who enjoy sharing a story.

Thank you to the publishers, Orion Children's Books, for sending me the book to review.

Horrid Henry's Annual 2013 - Francesca Simon

Horrid Henry's most action-packed Annual yet. Featuring brand new material from Francesca Simon, this is a fun-packed compilation of quizzes, puzzles, jokes, activities, extracts, and much more. All delivered with Henry's hallmark humour and Tony Ross' distinctive illustrations. A perfectly horrid gift!

Horrid Henry is the world's greatest zombie vampire werewolf hunter and he is back with his 2013 annual, full of puzzles, stories and games to keep other hunters entertained for hours!

I would say that this book is suitable for the older Horrid Henry fans, due to the theme, however the puzzles and quizzes are more suitable for the younger fans. The stories are all taken from the very popular series of books written by Francesca Simon - unfortunately there was no new material which would of been the icing on the cake for this annual!

This book will keep Horrid Henry fans occupied for some time however the older HH fans will probably skip through it seeing material they have seen in previous publications.

Thank you to the publishers, Orion Children's Books, for sending me the book to review.

Deadly 60 2013 annual

A year packed full of adventure in the first ever DEADLY Annual! Containing brand new material from Steve Backshall, this is a fierce, fun and fact-filled compilation of quizzes, puzzles and activities featuring deadly animals from around the world.

This is the first annual for Deadly 60 fans and it has been definitely worth waiting for. It is packed full of photographs, quizzes and puzzles,  and has some great 'how to draw' step by step instructions.

It has lots of facts and figures about some of the 60 deadly animals that Steve Backshall and his team travel the world to see and will ensure your child is top of the class when they get back to school because I am sure that it is a book which a child will keep picking up and dipping into over the festive period.

I received this book from the publishers, Orion Children's Books, for review.

Deadly Diaries - Steve Backshall (Deadly 60)

In his first ever Deadly Diaries Steve Backshall shares what it means to him to film the world's most endangered species. Learn how it feels to have a blue whale silently power past you in crystal clear Indian Ocean waters or to dangle beneath a helicopter in order to be dropped onto a crocodile nest while the mother crocodile is still there! The book will be broken down programme by programme, starting with a globe from the Deadly graphics highlighting the location and including facts, pictures, experiences and extended diary pieces. This is Deadly 60 as you've never seen it before.

The book promises an incredible and unique personal insight into life on location with the Deadly team and the book definitely delivers this. Regular viewers of the popular Deadly 60 programme will be able to 'hear' Steve Backshall throughout this book as he takes readers through many of the challenges and triumphs he has experienced while trying to 'visit' 60 deadly animals from around the world. 

The book follows Steve and his team through Ethiopia, Alaska, Great Britain, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Florida. Each country has its own chapter and is packed full of facts. The chapters are full of animals which live in that country and is a fantastic book for these facts alone - the facts are all written with children in mind and in a way that is easy to understand, to use in school projects or to use as a starting point for researching an animal. However, there are also Steve's diary entries with descriptions of the happenings in that country on his search, what he has seen, what the team did and who, if any, was invited along to help with the research (experts etc). 

The book also gives away some of the secrets of the show, with insight into the technology used to film the animals and also the challenges faced by the team when they visit each continent of the world - each very different and all having their own difficulties to throw at the team.

This is a fantastic book for animal lovers of all ages and I am sure it will be popular with children, teenagers and also many adults who want to learn more about these animals. It would make a perfect gift but would also be a great addition to any school library - primary or secondary.

Thank you to the publishers, Orion Children's  Books, for sending me the book to review.