Francesca Simon Audiobooks

Horrid Henry, the gleefully awful hero of a British childhood

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.3/5 average

573 listener ratings

Who is Francesca Simon?

Francesca Simon, born in 1955, is an American-born British author, and the creator of one of the most gleefully awful characters in children’s publishing. She is most famous for the Horrid Henry books, a series whose grip on British childhood has been firm enough to make her name all but synonymous with it.

Writing was in the family before it was hers: she is the daughter of the screenwriter and playwright Mayo Simon. Her own path carried her across the Atlantic, and there is arguably something of both traditions in the work – American pace, British mischief – though the result belongs unmistakably to the school gates and sitting rooms of this country.

Francesca Simon in audiobooks

Our catalogue carries Horrid Henry, and if you have children of a certain age you already know what you are in for. The character’s name is a promise the stories keep: mischief, mayhem and a hero who behaves exactly as badly as young listeners secretly wish they could. Audio suits this material well – short, punchy storytelling made for car journeys and bedtimes – and Henry is precisely the sort of character to convert a reluctant reader into an enthusiastic listener. For parents, the appeal is simpler still: stories children will actually sit still for, told with far more craft than the chaos suggests.