Mega-Mean Time Machine

‘Francesca Simon’s lovably evil anti-hero, Horrid Henry, and his grotesquely good younger brother, Perfect Peter, cross swords again in these four new stories. The best sees Horrid Henry duping Perfect Peter into believing the cardboard box in the sitting room really is a time machine. …Francesca Simon presses all the right buttons’ – Katie Law EVENING STANDARD ‘…will make you laugh out loud. Francesca Simon’s inventiveness ensures… each of the four new episodes of Henry’s enjoyable awfulness and his brother Peter’s namby-pamby virtuousness is freshly funny’ – Nicolette Jones SUNDAY TIMES ‘Four new Horrid Henry stories for the holiday suitcase including Horrid Henry builds a time machine (wach out Perfect Peter) and Horrid Henry forced to go hiking. Will be top of my son’s bag’ ANGELS & URCHINS MAGAZINE Four hideously funny stories about the eternal battle between Horrid Henry and his brother Perfect Peter, involving tricks, pranks, revenge and an unexpectedly successful family meal at the snobby restaurant Le Posh. – Amanda Craig SATURDAY TIMES 13.8.05 ‘wonderfully appealing to girls and boys alike, a precious rarity at this age’ – Judith Woods TIMES (Books) 27/8/05 ‘What is brilliant about the books is that Henry never does anything that is subversive. She creates an aura of supreme naughtiness (of which children are in awe) but points out that he operates within a safe and secure world. …eminently readable books’ – Emily Turner ANGELS AND URCHINS MAGAZINE ‘Another brilliant collection of utterly wicked and funny adventures from our favourite naughty boy… four fabulous new stories’ CHILD EDUCATION MAGAZINE ‘There’s something wonderfully subversive about Henry and his horrid ways, which probably explains why so many children are utterly captivated by these funny stories. Perfectly pitched for younger readers, they never patronise even the youngest of readers. She also manages to inject just the right amount of mischievous fun into each naughty story to encourage readers to carry on to the next self-contained tale.’ – Damian Kelleher JUNIOR EDUCATION ‘A well-designed book, with good pictures’ – Wendy Cooling CHILD EDUCATION MAGAZINE ‘an especially clever collection which may just deflect fights under the Christmas tree for 6-9s.’ – Amanda Craig THE TIMES ‘newly confident readers can’t go wrong with Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine, featuring the adorably nasty brat and his frightful younger brother, Perfect Peter.’ – Katie Law EVENING STANDARD 19.12.05 ‘Henry is really naughty and makes me laugh. He’s very funny and he has lots of adventures.’ – Martha, age 5 BELLA

Francesca Simon spent her childhood in California, and then went to Yale and Oxford Universities to study medieval history and literature. She now lives in London with her family. She has written over 50 books and won THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR in 2008 at the GALAXY BRITISH BOOK AWARDS for HORRID HENRY AND THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN.

Tony Ross is one of Britain’s best known illustrators, with many picture books to his name, including the bestselling Little Princess stories (Andersen). He has also produced the line drawings for many fiction titles, for authors such as David Walliams, Jeanne Willis, Enid Blyton, Astrid Lindgren, and many more. He lives in Wales.