Horrid Henry Early Reader: Horrid Henry's Underpants Award-winning team by Francesca Simon (author) and Tony Ross (illustrator)

Francesca Simon is the author of the hugely successful Horrid Henry series, which has sold over 15 million copies. Henry is a terrible (but loveable) tearaway who leaves grown-ups in tears, and playmates cowering! Short chapters and line drawings from Tony Ross make these great choices for newly confident readers.

More about Francesca: “I was born in St Louis, Missouri, grew up in Los Angeles and attended both Yale and Oxford Universities, where I specialised in Medieval Studies. I then threw away a lucrative career as a medievalist and worked as a freelance journalist, writing for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Telegraph, and Vogue.

After my son Joshua was born in 1989, I started writing children’s books full time.

I have published over 50 books, including the immensely popular Horrid Henry series, published in 17 countries and now a successful CITV animation series.

I live in London with my husband, son, and Tibetan Spaniel called Shanti.”

Multi-award-winning Tony Ross has become one of the best-known creators of original and traditional picture books and his work has been published all over the world. As well as his own books, he has illustrated books for authors such as Roald Dahl, Paula Danziger and Michael Palin.