He is freaky and weird, and so are many of the sport facts in Horrid Henry’s Sports, by Francesca Simon.

Though published four years ago at the time of the London Olympic Games, the book is a timeless reference book for all those who are looking for sports facts that are not run of the mill. The facts here are freaky, weird and random. And some of the sports mentioned are those most of us have never heard of and many won’t want to even play today, for instance World Cow Poo Throwing Contest!

Did you know that World Championship Cockroach Races take place in Queensland, Australia? Or that Queen Elizabeth I thought football was a very rough sport and disliked it so much that anyone found playing it was thrown in jail!

A Horrid factbook is different from other factbooks because Horrid Henry is a different kind of hero.

But not everything here is weird, there are some regular stuff too, like those found in the section “Action-packed first” containing the first instances of many sports and “Olympics essentials” featuring some facts about this mega event.

The book is suitable for young readers who have just started reading and who would find regular sport factbooks with all kinds of facts and figures too complicated to understand as they might not be too familiar with the rules of different games. It is also a nice way to introduce them to sports if they have not yet started following sports properly as the interesting facts may intrigue them into finding out more about sports.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 20th, 2016