Horrible Harry

Horrible Harry is a popular children's book series written by Suzy Kline which is used in American elementary schools for teaching reading.^[1] It is based on a 3rd grader named Harry, and his misadventures are told through the words of his best friend, Doug. Harry's and Doug's friends are Sidney, Song Lee, Mary, Ida, and Dexter. His teacher is named Mrs. Mackle. His principal's name is Mr. Cardini. The first Horrible Harry book was published in 1988.

Characters

Doug Hurtuk is Harry's best friend. The books are written from his point of view.
Harry Spooger, the main character and best friend of Doug, who is always doing something crazy that is the subject of the books. He has a little crush on Song Lee. Although he likes doing horrible things, he has an interest for science and fantasy.
Sidney La Fleur, a snobby boy in their class. He likes to try to pick on Harry. He is shown to be Harry's rival and always calls him Harry the Canary which earned him the nickname Sid the Squid. When he attempts to outdo or prank Harry in various situations, he sometimes ends up biting off more than he can chew. His last name, La Fleur, comes from his stepfather, with whom Sidney has a good relationship.
Song Lee Park, a girl from Korea, that Harry has a crush on. She is very nice and polite, and does something mean very occasionally in the series. She has even been nice to Mary after Mary insulted her more than a few times! She has a passion for animals, and is very obedient. Some of the books in the series are written with Song Lee as the focus.
Mary Berg, a snobby girl that's Ida's best friend. She attempts not to like Harry, but is only nice to him on Valentine's Day. She can be blatantly insulting at times to everybody, (e.g. "Doug, you don't know anything!") and is frequently opposed to Harry's point of view. She enjoys tattling on others, especially Harry.
Ida Burrell, Mary's best friend. Her great-great grandmother sailed on the RMS Titanic and survived. At one point in the books, she is revealed to have Asian Indian and African ancestry.
Dexter Sanchez (was Dexter Doby in Horrible Harry takes the Cake), a "cool" kid in their class. He is a major Elvis Presley fan and celebrates Three Kings' Day every year. He is also prone to seasickness.
ZuZu Hadad, a boy from Lebanon, became part of the class in a later book, and also brought a class pet to Room 3B, a guinea pig named JouJou.
Other students besides Doug, Harry, Sidney, Song Lee, Mary, Ida, Dexter, and ZuZu are implied to be in the class, but are never given names, except for Miguel (mentioned in the Halloween book) and Shoshanna White (she was only mentioned once), who was stated to have moved away in one of the books.
Mrs. Mackle, Doug, Harry, Sidney, Song Lee, Mary, Ida, Zuzu, and Dexter's teacher. She is engaged to a substitute teacher that appeared in one of the books (Harry and Doug mistook the fiancé to be the music teacher, Mr. Marks)
Mr. Cardini The school's principal. He is always a comedian and is revealed to have always wanted spiky hair in one early book. Sometimes he uses Italian phrases or words (usually "Bravissimo!"and sometimes "Bravo!")

List of books

Horrible Harry in Room 2B
Horrible Harry and the Green Slime
Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion
Horrible Harry's Secret
Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise
Song Lee in Room 2B
Song Lee and the Hamster Hunt
Song Lee and the "I Hate You" Notes
Song Lee and the Leech Man
Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding
Horrible Harry and the Dungeon
Horrible Harry and the Purple People
Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom
Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade
Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon
Horrible Harry and the Locked Closet
Horrible Harry Goes to Sea
Horrible Harry at Halloween
Horrible Harry and the Dragon War
Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins
Horrible Harry and the Triple Revenge
Horrible Harry Cracks the Code
Horrible Harry and the Dead Letters
Horrible Harry on the Ropes
Horrible Harry and the Holiday
Horrible Harry goes cuckoo
Horrible Harry bugs the three bears
Horrible Harry takes the cake
Horrible Harry and the goof

References

^ Rajewski, Jeannine Perry (2000). Teaching Word Recognition, Spelling, and Vocabulary. International Reading Association. pp. p. 63. ISBN 0872072797. http://books.google.com/books?id=mldZMy09ynkC&pg=PA63&dq=%22Horrible+Harry%22+%2Bkline+-inauthor:kline&num=100&sig=BCVTKHGkJikefg5J6YwQp5cpnP0.