Horrid Henry’s Ketchup by Francesca Simon, containing four stories about the worst behaved boy in the world, is as funny as the other books of the series. Henry is not a regular mischievous boy, he is horribly mischievous and comes up with all kinds of crazy ideas that readers enjoy reading about.

In the first story, Horrid Henry’s Ketchup, Henry is in a mess because his parents don’t want him to have ketchup with everything. He tries all his tricks to outwit them, especially when they tell him to use a heather option of a ‘veg-chup’!

In Horrid Henry’s Chicken we get to know what Henry fears the most – yes, he is scared of something like most of us – chickens! And he is as scared of chicken as he is of others getting to know of his secret phobia, so when he ‘wins’ the chance to keep Deadly Delores the chicken, a class pet, and take it home for the holidays, it seems like the end of the world to him. It is very interesting reading about how Henry devices schemes to survive the holidays without handling Deadly Delores and how things don’t always work according to his plans.

In the third story, The Revenge of the Bogey Babysitter, Henry has his equally horrible friend Rude Ralph, helping his trouble the mean babysitter Rabid Rebecca. This happens when Henry goes for a sleepover with Rude Ralph, whose babysitter, Rabid Rebecca knows how horribly naughty the two boys can be and is well-prepared to teach them a lesson. But she doesn’t know, and we do, that she’ll be soon outwitted.

In the final story, Horrid Henry Tells It Like It Is, Henry has the assignment of making a film about his family. Considering his family to be the most boring on earth, he sets about to make it interesting by making it the most embarrassing family video ever!

Funny and imaginative, Horrid Henry’s Ketchup can make any non-reader pick it up and enjoy it.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 15th, 2016