Horrid High by Payal Kapadia is about young Ferg Gottin, who has mean and uncaring parents. Ferg and his best friend, Ace, go to Sunnyvale School. Ferg’s parents, who want to get rid of him, decide to send him to a place where they can abandon him forever. They send him to “Happy High” which turns out to be Horrid High.
Horrid High is a place where teachers are trained to be absolutely horrid and then sent out to other schools. The students in Horrid High are made to sleep in harnesses so as, the teachers believe, to prevent them from being lazy. The food there is cooked by Chef Gretta, a tall and thin woman, who cooks horrible food.
A school inspector decides to visit Horrid High without informing the school. Somehow the school’s principal, Principal Perverse, gets to know about this and begins to make the children clean and paint the school so that it looks like a happy place. The children are also made to act happy and put on huge smiles when the inspector arrives.
The inspector is unsure about the school, but decides that nothing could be wrong with it.
Granny Grit, an animal-lover and wildlife conservationist, decides to teach in Horrid High. She pretends to be mean and cruel, but is actually very nice and gives the children goodies and treats.
Once, Ferg who was passing by the hall, finds out about a Grand Party and hears some information about the English teacher, Vera Verbose. She would be going to Sunnyvale!
Will he and his friends and Granny Grit be able to save the day?
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- There are funny and imaginative names like Vera Verbose, Nita Nottynuff, Volumina Butt and so on.
- The storyline is good and the writer has played with the words in a fun way.
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- It is weird how Ferg travels in the boot of Principal Perverse’ car to see where he is going and to make a call and ends up not being detected even when the boot isn’t able to close properly.
Shivani Krishna
July 20, 2015