Until I read it, that is.
Now - I see that I was completely wrong. Don't worry, I've not gone mental. Ms. Simon is writing kids fiction here, so there'll be no Orange, Whitbread or Man Booker Prizes for her. You'll probably also be thinking "did Pete buy them and take them home to read?". No again. I was supervising in work and the shop was empty so I got stuck in to Horrid Henry's Revenge (thinking to myself - "I love revenge!").
I'll sum it up for you:
"Horrid" Henry is the eldest of two. He's about seven or eight (I don't know how old he is). His brother ("Perfect" Peter - named after me, of course) is slightly younger. From what we read, Peter is his parent's favourite. Peter is good at school, does what he's told, eats healthily and always stays out of trouble (as well as grassing on Henry whenever possible to get him into trouble).
If Peter ever steps out of line, however, Henry would go to his parents and tell on him but is met with nothing but contempt, scepticism and scorn.
This sums up the theory on why Henry is known as "horrid": his parents are favouritist scumbags with no aptitude for looking after children. Henry and Peter are constantly played off each other, making Peter an insuffrable git and Henry a jealous ball of rage which will undoubtedly snap when Henry reaches his early teens.
Henry embarks on so many destructive ventures which of course the teachers absolutely loathe, but his fellow classmates see him as some kind of saviour. His teacher, Miss Battle-Axe, reminds me of one of the teachers in my primary school (who is now dead. 1-0 to Pete). I say that as she made an example of me, shouted at me and made all the other kids laugh at me for chewing on a black pencil crayon which had coloured my mouth, making me look like I'd consumed 126,000 Black Jacks. Henry is also treated like scum by a teacher at such a young age.
"He needs discipline! DI-CI-PLINE!!!" yell Daily Mail readers across the UK. Bollocks. He needs to be loved by his parents. That way, he'll not project his anger towards other authority figures or people who stop him doing what he really wants.
At 15, Henry will no doubt be sent to a therapist for his wild behaviour, and of course years and years of suffering at the hands of inept parents and uncaring teachers (and you can swap those adjectives round if you like) will come pouring out. His parents, naturally will deny everything, call him "an ungrateful little shit" and send him to brat camp to straighten him out.
After more years of pain and hardship, in his late 30s he will finally look up his younger brother Peter (who is a quantity surveyor) to make amends. He will write a biography as well, aimed at kids with bastard parents. I imagine it will be called "A Child Called Horrid Henry". Tony Ross will illustrate it. And Dave Pelzer will sue the crackers off him for breach of title copyright.
Why is Horrid Henry so great for young readers? Well, he is an example of what happens when kids are not taken seriously by the educational establishment. And kids love it because unlike them, Horrid Henry is fictional and is allowed to get away with all of this hell-raising. In Northern Ireland if any kid tried ANY of this stuff, he'd be off to a "child psychologist" (or as I call them "twats") for "starightening out". Their parents have lots of money of course, and instinctly think the way for a kid to stop acting up is to buy them loads of stuff and make them feel guilty about it.
So, in conclusion:
Horrid Henry is great for kids in the UK. And if you don't think so, fuck ye.