Harry's Mad by Dick King Smith

This morning I was looking on our book shelves for something to read while eating breakfast, and I decided to reread Harry's Mad by Dick King Smith.  What a delightful and fun book.  I read it aloud to various groupings of my children at least three times.  My husband uses it as a class novel for his grade 4/5 class.  It is just so delightful and fun.

If you haven't read it, please do so and read it aloud to a child or two. You'll all enjoy this story about Harry and the parrot, Madison, he inherits from his grand uncle.  Mad is an African Grey Parrot who knows how to talk and not just repeating what he's heard but how to hold a conversation.

It seemed to take a long time when I read it aloud years ago, but reading it this morning I realized it was actually a  very short book - 128 pages in the Yearling 1997 version.  Reading age level says 4-8 years old, but I would take that with a grain of salt.  I enjoyed it this morning and I'm way past that age :). 

I read it to my children when the youngest listener was about 5, I think, and continued to read it to listeners who were 11 and 12 years old.

My other favourite books by Dick King Smith are:
Sheep Pig - now called Babe If you've seen the movie, please read the book, too.  I've only seen snippets of the movie and it doesn't do justice, in my mind anyway, to the wonderful story.

Pigs Might Fly
The Cuckoo Child
Read them if you haven't already.  They are terrific read outloud material for  families and classrooms. Have fun!

And if you, like I, love guinea pigs, this book by Dick King Smith is one of the best - I Love Guinea Pigs.

Enjoy!