Customer Reviews

Harry and the Lady Next Door (I Can Read Book 1)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I grew up with this book and never knew of the others in the series. Seeing as my daughter loves dogs I had to buy this when I saw it in this new edition.

An opera singer has moved into the house next to Harry's. The singer practices all day long, singing loud and high. Harry does not like this sound. Harry tries a number of ways to get her to stop. These do not please his family. But finally, a good way is found and everyone is happy.

As a parent, one of the things I like about this book is that it is clear that Harry is not being good when he howls, leads cows or a marching band, or other tricks. Although we want Harry to succeed, we also want it to be in the right and good way. This book knows the difference.

I loved this book as a kid and I still do. My daughter loves it (hopefully my son will too).

Harry goes to desperate lengths to silence the lady next door - her singing is too high and loud. He howls, bits piano legs, steals music, chases cows and bands, but finally succeeds, to everyones' relief. Even the lady next door is happy.

I read this as a child, as did my brothers. This is the first story that my 5 year old has shown an interest in reading by himself. Thanks Harry!

Child Pleasing Read ~~~ Highly Recommended ~~~ 5 stars

Poor Harry. Everything was going so well, until a new lady moved next door. Harry likes ladies, no problem there. But this new lady is an opera singer. And she has moved into the house right next to Harry's. And, she practices. She practices all day long. She sings loud and she sings high. Really, really high. And she sings really, really loud.

The lady next door can sing louder than screaming cats, and the peanut vendor's whistle. She can even sing louder than a fire engine siren. Poor Harry, that singing hurts his ears. Harry does not like the tone. The tone is just too high and it is just too loud.

Harry is determined to silence the lady next door. He bites the piano leg, he howls, he herds cows. Maybe if the lady hears the lovely L-O-W sounds cows make she will begin to sing the same low tones. That doesn't work. He brings a band, the tuba makes a lovely low sound. Nothing works. At last he steals the lady's music only to discover that the lady does not need the music, she keeps right on singing.

At last the lady wins a contest and is offered an opportunity to study opera far, far away. Harry and his family go with the lady to say goodbye when she sets off in a big ship. As her ship sets sail, Harry can hear her singing. And then the ship's foghorn sounds. Harry was ecstatic, he thought it to be the most beautiful good-bye song he had ever heard!

Harry and the Lady Next Door (An I Can Read Picture Book) is another in our collection of 'Harry' books. Fifteen pairs of bright eyes fill with delight as my resident critics hurry to get ready for 'reading on the rug.' Harry and the Lady Next Door has been staple in my K-1 classroom from the first weeks when I began teaching in California some twenty years ago. The children loved it then, they love it now.

As a teacher, I particularly like the Harry books because the narrative presents Harry in a ticklish situation he works to solve, illustrations are low key and child friendly, no fussy over detailed or too bright images, in addition to a vocabulary aimed at beginning reader/listeners.

Pictures are full of activity without being over drawn or excessively detailed. Images are created using straight forward, high-spirited strokes. Milieu are calm and indistinct with ample white space on the page. Children's eyes are drawn immediately to Harry and his endeavors.

Children follow the narrative through listening and images, the book works well for discussion after the reading is finished; as well as for reading again as children tell the story to themselves from the illustrations.

Harry and the Lady Next Door finds our beloved white dog with the black spots Harry, up to his ears in misery. My resident critics follow the tale with rapt attention, even though we have read the story before and they know what is coming their attention does not waver as they crowd close and 'talk' the story with me. Each scheme Harry comes up to get the lady to stop singing so high and so loud is met with peals of giggles. The kids are charmed by the witty antics of this endearing dog.

I like the discussions which ensue as the children have become more articulate and able to verbalize that Harry's actions are not motivated from naughtiness, or a mean spirit, rather he is trying to first persuade the lady to just stop, and then after he realizes that lower tones do not hurt his ears, to change her mode of singing. He herds the cows and the band toward the lady's house in his effort to show her that lower tones are nicer than high, shrill ones.

Harry and the Lady Next Door gives the class the opportunity to discuss how and why BIG loud voices in the classrooms can cause us problems just as the lady and her shrill, loud voice caused problems for Harry.

Thirty thumbs up from 15 bright eyed first graders in Osage County, Oklahoma. Harry and the Lady Next Door is a good choice for children's pleasure reading, as well as belonging on the classroom reading shelf, the school and public library list and for homeschoolers reading offerings. Happy to recommend.

Molly Martin
Reviewer

Parents and children will laugh out loud when they share this story of Harry and a quite untalented opera singer whose best quality seems to be VOLUME!

Lassie and Rin Tin Tin couldn't do any better than Harry, although he struggles through some rough patches with all the mistakes he makes trying to accomplish his aim! Poor Harry seems to love everyone except the lady next door who sings that awful opera at the top of her lungs. She sings louder than the peanut vendor's whistle, fire engine siren and screaming cats. Now, that's really loud!

Harry does everything he can to stop her, to no avail. But when Harry's neighbor wins a contest, she goes off on a ship to study opera in a far off land! As her ship sets sail, her singing proves to be even louder than the ship's foghorn. "Harry thought it was the most beautiful good-bye song he had ever heard!"

Three cheers for Harry, one of the most adorable little guys we've ever read about!

I love this Harry the dog series and this addition is one of my favorites. It is also one of the favorites of the children I read it to.

Harry is the sort of dog who likes everyone; a rather friendly little terrier that most certainly has a mind of his own and most certainly has his likes and dislikes...few though they may be. Well, one thing he disliked was the lady next door. It was not so much the lady herself that annoyed our little dog but rather her voice. You see, she was an opera singer and practiced all of the time. Her voice simply hurt Harry's ears as it did the other dogs, cats and animals in the neighborhood.

Harry sets out on a mission. He loves deep and mellow sounds and we follow him through various plans and plots to simply down the lady out. He uses cows, brass bands and eventually bull frogs to accomplish this task.

I can assure you that this story has a very happy ending; a satisfying ending for all concerned...including the high voiced opera singing lady.

This story flows quite well and is well written. It is set up in chapter form and is a great book to use to transition the little ones into chapter books. Kids like this story as I think they can identify with Harry as to be annoyed about something an adult does.

I love the art work in this book. The artist has used only black and white drawings colored with only shaded green and yellow. This has a rather stunning effect and does not distract from the wonderful expressions on Harry's face...which is one of the best parts of the story...you can tell what Harry is thinking all of the time. I love the matter-of-fact expressions on his face when he is "bad dogged."

I suppose one of the charms of this work is that I too can relate to Harry. When I was a little boy the mother of one of my best friends was a singer. They lived just up the hill from our house. I can remember to this day how hour after hour after hour that woman would practice and how much it annoyed me...hurt my ears too. I would be playing with one of her sons - he was one of my best friends; she would stand on the front porch of their home high on the hill and call..."LaaaaaarrrrrrrEEEEE." Her voice was so powerful and penetrating that you could actually (and I am not exaggerating one bit here as I once had my mom drive the distance and we measured it) hear her up to two and one half miles away. We would be playing in the creek and that voice would track us down and Larry would set off in a mad dash for home. I don't think he feared his mom as she was a very nice woman; I think that voice just terrified him.

Anyway, this is a great story and great book as are all in this series.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

My son has a delay in reading. This book is on his reader list at level J. He is in the 1st grade and read this book over the course of 3 days. Its perfect for transitioning children from simple stories to more complex readings and on into chapter books.

My children loved the "Harry" series. This book is very funny as Harry tries to get the lady next door to stop singing because she hurts his ears. I bought this one for my nephew as a birthday present.

I am 35 years old and still remember loving this book as a child. I am ordering it now for my young loved ones.

I was very happy to find this book. This was a childhood favorite and will continue to be for the next generation in my family. The story is simple enough for any child to follow and entertaining each time we read it.

All of the Harry books are of consistently good quality, rather similar (Harry gets into trouble, there are misunderstandings, everybody gets along fine in the end). This one follows the formula as well as any. Harry just hates the shrill opera singing of the lady next door, and does everything he can to get her to shut up. It's funny and our little boy liked it very much; we read it together many times.