Horrible Harry and the Holidaze - Hardcover

Suzy Kline, the author of nineteen previous Horrible Harry books and four books about Song Lee, lives in Willington Connecticut with her husband, Rufus. Suzy and Rufus have been married for thirty-eight years. They met in the state where they both grew up: California. Suzy grew up in Berkeley and Rufus in Sacramento. Suzy graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in European history. She met Rufus at the Davis campus while attending that campus for a year. They got married and lived in different places, including Canada, before settling into Connecticut, the state they now call home.

Suzy taught in 5th and 6th grades at Shannon Elementary School in Richmond, California for 3 years, and 2nd and 3rd grades at Southwest Elementary School in Torrington, Connecticut for 24 years before retiring this past June. She now enjoys writing full-time and visiting schools and libraries. The couple share their home with two cats, Teeter and Hoag. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Emily, and four grandchildren: Jake, Kenna, Gabby and Saylor. A fifth grandchild is due in September, 2006. Suzy's mother just turned 96. She dedicated her most recent book, Horrible Harry Takes the Cake to her.

Suzy and Rufus enjoy attending UConn football and basketball games, and Suzy uses the UConn library as a reference for her writing facts.

 

Gr. 2-3. Narrator Doug begins the story by noting that something is wrong with his best friend, Harry. With his grin, his insults, his love of the creepy, and his obvious crush on his third-grade classmate, Song Lee, missing, Harry "just wasn't his horrible self." This mystery is solved half way through the story when the class visits the nursing home where Harry's beloved grandfather has recently become a resident. Most of the book, however, is devoted to the third-graders learning about the seasonal holidays their classmates celebrate: Three King's Day, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Korean New Year's, and Christmas. The depiction of Harry's sadness and his grandfather's situation is sensitive though brief. The presentation of holiday practices stresses the secular aspects of religious holidays and gives a somewhat purposeful tone to the latest entry in this entertaining chapter-book series. Carolyn Phelan
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