horrid henry!

[babs100]

Hi everyone, I've specifically joined this site in order to find out how to complain about these books! I expect most of us will have seen 'horrid henry' on tv, and my grandson likes the cartoon. They seemed acceptable, so I bought 2 Horrid Henry books - A giant slice of Horrid Henry, and A helping of Horrid Henry.
I was reading through them and realised they are just terrible books - advocating and encouraging all the behaviours that no-one - just no-one - would subscribe to!

I had thought that they would be rather like the 'william' books, where the boy is often misunderstood for wanting to do 'good' actions - and actually does things that we would all accept. Not the horrid henry books. Where to start? One of the main subjects is the fact that he loves junk food. That would, I suppose, be alright as a reflection of children's preference, but the book, as it were, endorses this, and encourages it. Just one chapter - horrid henry eats a vegetable.
Henry 'lies' - it actually says this -without any mention or indication that this is bad - his brother, peter, who likes 'healthy' food - is made to look silly - and his parents are made to be unpleasant characters themselves - they make a deal with henry that if he eats healthily they will take him to his favourite takeaway - knowing (it transpires at the end) -that it has been closed and replaced by a ?'dreadful' veggie cafe.
I'm not a vegetarian - and if there was anything pleasant or funny in this chapter it wouldn't be so bad - but it is just filled with Henry unpleasantly tricking and lying to his parents (pretending to eat his food by hiding it/throwing it on the floor etc) - not being found out - but being unkindly tricked by them in the end. If he had indeed eaten all his vegetables in order to be taken to 'Gobble and Go' - how cruel were his parents - knowing that it no longer existed??

Every chapter, as far as i can see, is similar in encouraging bad, anti-social, unkind behaviour. But I have no more time! - could anyone tell me how and who I can complain to about these books as they most certainly should not be on the shelves for young children to read.

We enjoy reading other things too.

I questioned your parenting ability because you seem terrified of HH,want to complain officially about them and wrote a very extreme post about a range of books adored by many.

rockpool no, it's not me wanting to " complain " about HH, where have I written a very extreme post?
You are talking about the OP aren't you?

Yes the op or you, whoever I'm a little bit of anybody scared enough to make an extreme complaint re children's fiction and yes I think it does say a lot about their parenting skills.Sorry.

rockpool it's ok, calm down.
Judging people's parenting skills on wether they like HH or not...says a lot about you.

Disliking is one thing,complaining and using words like "terrible" is another.

Op joined MN to specifically to find out where to complain about HH-.I think that is errr extreme and yes says a lot about her parenting skills if she is soooo concerned about them to such an extreme.

I just don't like them. The cartoons are worse because of the irritating voices. The kid's a brat, but then most kids characters are!

I wouldn't write to anyone about it though... Its hardly going to make DS grow up to be a serial killer, is it? Usually if a child reads something with 'bad' bits, its the parents job to say "oh, he told a lie - that's naughty, and I am sure he will get found out and punished", or "dreadful vegetarian cafe?, well that's his opinion, but lots of people like them." Your kids will meet real life Henrys!

There will always be some books that the parents hate but the kids love.

I love HH, all 4 dds love HH-i think its a unique cartoon with unique books, there is nothing else like it on the market.
Infact im yet to meet a child that doesn't like HH.
My eldest dd has nearly all the books and they have encouraged her to read a lot more often.
Tbh i do not see the point in complaining as all you have to do is get rid of the books or give them to someone else.
Theres much worse things to complain about, like teen mags for example

Really? This is how you choose to spend your time? I can only imagine how charmed and care-free your life must be. How about this for an idea? We stop complaining about all of life's injustices and stick to raising our children to know right from wrong, and most importantly the ability to distinguish fact from fiction. That's our job. I bet you're great fun at parties.