Horrible Harry on the Ropes

Horrible Harry #24

by Suzy Kline, Amy Wummer (Illustrator), Johnny Heller (Narrator)

Harry loves gym class-except for climbing rope. He's just too afraid of heights. But then a special valentine that Song Lee made for Harry goes missing. Now Harry must climb the rope in order to prove who took the valentine. But will he be able to overcome his fear? Or will Harry's Valentine's Day end horribly?

Genres: Childrens, Chapter Books, Fiction, Humor, School Stories

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Suzy Kline, nee Weaver, was an elementary school teacher for 25 years and most of her books are based on the experiences she had while teaching. Suzy and Rufus got married and had two daughters named Jennifer and Emily. Now, more than 24 years after writing her first book, Suzy has traveled all over the United States helping children learn how to enjoy reading and writing.

Reviews

[Luke Karnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love that he so brave.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this Horrible Harry story.

This story tells about a new gym class activity that I personally never had to face in gym class: the dreaded rope climbing. If you know anything about Harry, you know he's terrified of heights, but he always tries to conquer his fears in one way or another. Harry isn't afraid of anything else, really. This activity also happens on Valentine's Day.

This story has a lot of neat things in it: facing your fears, how to handle jealousy, encouraging one another. I think it's a great story to read to your kids.

Also, how all those things intertwined with each other to tell this story.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doug tells about the time Horrible Harry was challenged to face his fear of heights once again. This time it was in gym class and the activity of rope climbing. It was an act of jealously and revenge that Sidney perpetrated that motivated Harry to not only face is fears, and climb the rope to the top, but reclaim something that belonged to him.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have the exact words for it, but the series going from Harry and Song Lee having crushes on each other, to getting Sidney involved, parallels the series' step up in maturity as the class moves from second to third grade.

[Shaun Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of this book to determine if it was appropriate for my five-year-old to listen to.

There are a few parts that are borderline for that age group -- like when one of the kids is worried that if he falls off the rope, he'll smash his bones, or when Harry confronts a kid whom he suspects stole his Valentine's Day card, and it is implied that Harry wants to give him a pounding.

There are also few parts that I was pleasantly surprised about, like how the kids and teachers are generally encouraging and kind, and how Harry says a prayer before ascending the rope in gym class.

In the end, I decided that I would allow my five-year-old listen to the book itself -- but NOT the Epilogue, in which (spoiler alert) Harry exacts revenge on a kid whom he had acted as if he'd forgiven ... by sticking chewed-up gum in the kid's candy! Neither seeking revenge nor messing with another kid's food is something I want my child imitating.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

its about there is a new activity in the gym and Harry is afraid of heights so he doesn't go on the climbing the rope chart and only Sidney's name is on it so when the kids get their valentine's Sidney hopes that he gets the card that Song lee had written it said for someone special when he doesn't he gets really mad he swipes the card from Harry's desk and hid it in the top of the hole in the gym he had to climb to the top of the rope and got the card and he conquered his biggest fear.

[Marlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My children really enjoyed this book. It was especially fun reading it close to Valentine's Day. These books have all been quick, easy reads. They are funny. For an adult they are completely predictable and somewhat dull. However, sharing them with my children, I've found them to be a lot of fun, and even quite funny.

[Michael Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me feel jealous of Harry because, while Harry was able to overcome his fear of heights and earn praise from his friends and his crush, I was never able to overcome my own fear of heights. However, it was a nice, light read.

[Dillan Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was very, very cool.

[Diana Pettis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son Xavier read this to me. He is going into third grade and told me it was very funny. Harry learns a very important lesson in his opinion.

[Alicia Luong]

Loved this book. It was very fun to read with my guided reading group and I found that not only did they enjoy the book but it provided them with a lot of comprehension skills without a lot of instruction from me. The events that took place in the book was dramatic and more memorable so students were able to sequence and understand cause and effect in the story. Since the book was so easy to read and to recall, students were able to answer comprehension questions with little to no difficulty.