âItâs not fair!â howled Horrid Henry. âI want a Hip-Hop Robot dog!â
Horrid Henry needed money. Lots and lots and lots of money. His parents didnât need money, and yet they had tons more than he did. It was so unfair. Why was he so brilliant at spending money, and so bad at getting money?
And now Mom and Dad refused to buy him something he desperately needed.
âYou have plenty of toys,â said Mom.
âWhich you never play with,â said Dad.
âThatâs âcause theyâre all so boring!â screeched Henry. âI want a robot dog!â
âToo expensive,â said Mom.
âToo noisy,â said Dad.
âBut everyone has a Hip-Hop Robot Dog,â whined Henry. âEveryone but me .â
Horrid Henry stomped out of the room. How could he get some money?
Wait. Maybe he could persuade Peter to give him some. Peter always had tons of cash because he never bought anything.
Yes! He could hold Peterâs Bunnykins for ransom. He could tell Peter his room was haunted and get Peter to pay him for ghostbusting. He could make Peter donate to Henryâs favorite charity, Child in Need⦠Hip-Hop Robot Dog, here I come, thought Horrid Henry, bursting into Peterâs bedroom.
Perfect Peter and Tidy Ted were whispering together on the floor. Papers were scattered all around them.
âYou canât come in my room,â said Peter.
âYes I can,â said Henry, ââcause Iâm already in. Pooh, your room stinks.â
âThatâs âcause youâre in it,â said Peter.
Henry decided to ignore this insult.
âWhatcha doing?â
âNothing,â said Peter.
âWeâre writing our own newspaper like Mrs. Oddbod suggested in assembly,â said Ted. âWeâve even got a Tidy with Ted column,â he added proudly.
âA snooze paper, you mean,â said Henry.
âIt is not,â said Peter.
Henry snorted. âWhatâs it called?â
â The Best Boysâ Busy Bee ,â said Peter.
âWhat a stupid name,â said Henry.
âItâs not a stupid name,â said Peter. âMiss Lovely said it was perfect.â
âPeter, I have a great idea for your paper,â said Henry.
âWhat?â said Peter cautiously.
âYou can use your newspaper for Fluffyâs litter box.â
âMOOOM!â wailed Peter. âHenryâs being mean to me.â
âDonât be horrid, Henry!â shouted Mom.
âPeter is a poopsicle, Peter is a poopsicle,â chanted Henry.
But then Peter did something strange. Instead of screaming for Mom, Peter started writing.
âNow everyone who buys my newspaper will know how horrid you are,â said Peter, putting down his pencil.
Buy? Buy?
âWeâre selling it in school tomorrow,â said Ted. âMiss Lovely said we could.â
Sell? Sell?
âLemme see that,â said Henry, yanking the paper out of Peterâs hands.
The Busy Beeâs headline read:
PETER IN THE GOOD AS GOLD BOOK FOR THE FOURTH TIME THIS MONTH
Horrid Henry snorted. What a worm. Then his eye caught the second headline:
COMPUTER BAN FOR HORRID BOY
Henry was banned from playing games on the computer today because he was mean to his brother Peter and called him wibble pants and poopsicle. The Busy Bee hopes Henry has learned his lesson and will stop being such a big meanie.
âYouâre going to⦠sell this?â spluttered Henry. His name would be mud. Worse than mud. Everyone would know what a stupid toad brother he had. Worse, some people might even believe Peterâs lies.
And then suddenly Horrid Henry had a brilliant, spectacular idea. Heâd write his own newspaper. Everyone would want to buy it. Heâd be rich!
He could call his newspaper The Hourly Howler and charge 25¢ a copy. If he could write seven editions a day, and sell each copy to 500 people, heâd makeâ¦
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