Boys Rule Boys Read!: Poisonous Centipedes Can Be Fun (and funny!)

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Poisonous Centipedes Can Be Fun (and funny!)

I saw this book with this great title recently--Harry the Poisonous Centipede: A Story to Make You Squirm by Lynne Reid Banks.

Now, how could you pass up a title like that? Especially since our theme this summer is Catch the Reading Bug. So I checked it out and guess what--it was a fun read! A quick, fun, and funny book. Harry, of course, is a poisonous centipede, which you might think icky unless you're another poisonous centipede. Life can be adventurous for a venomous insect with 42 legs--there are always tunnels to crawl through and yummy, crunchy things like beetles or spiders to hunt and eat. Belinda, Harry's mom, could even go outside and bring home a tasty toad every once in a while. But life could also be dangerous--there are hairy biters, belly crawlers, and flying swoopers to watch out for. And if the centipedes don't stay moist, they could Dry Out! The most dangerous things, however, are the giganitic Hoo-mins!! Belinda warns Harry to stay away from them--and especially the Up-pipe that leads into a Hoo-min house. But when water rushes down into their tunnels, Harry and his friend George must take the Up-pipe to escape. There they find themselves trapped in a house with a real, live, enormous Hoo-min!! Can they ever escape? I really enjoyed this one. And when the two centipedes find themselves crawling across a sleeping Hoo-min and find the only way they can keep from Drying Out--well, you'll laugh and say "Yuck!" at the same time. What more can you ask for in a book?

The second one is even better. In Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to Sea,

Harry and George find themselves trapped inside a crate of bananas and taken far across the no-end puddle to a city of Hoo-Mins! How can they ever get back home??? This one's funny and exciting at the same time. And both books have terrific illustrations by Tony Ross. If you want something quick and fun, you can't beat these two!!

Don't let the hairy biters get your last three segments!

Carl

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