The Horrid Henry cover promises "4 laugh out loud stories," but still, I was surprised when I totally LOL-ed at Henry's capers. My favorite of the four is the first story, "Horrid Henry's Perfect Day." It's a fantastic story about what happens when a rotten kid decides to abandon his horrid ways and mimic his perfect brother for a day.

As you can imagine, confusion ensues. Mom, Dad, and Perfect Peter are befuddled by Henry's sudden change of attitude. As the day wears on, Peter can hardly stand it, and eventually he cracks, completing the reversal of roles in a spaghetti-splatting finale that elicited giggles from this reader.

The subject matter of Simon's stories is inherently funny, but it's her masterful prose that makes these book so delightful. She smoothly interjects rhythm and repetition, making the words as fun to read as the story. She adds layers of hilarious and revealing consonance with every proper name. She sneaks in a life lesson or two. And in the end, she delivers sweet and funny stories as timeless as classic fables.