“Henry sang slowly and with great sincerity and conviction...
‘Lord lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Heaven’s tableland
A higher plane, that I have found
Lord, plant my feet on Higher Ground.’
I sat down, completely stunned. Henry’s voice was filled with desire. I experienced his song as a precious gift.”
[Clare] “If you could stop, now… if you could not time travel any more, and there would be no consequences, would you?”
[Henry:] “If I could stop now and still meet you?”
[Clare:] “You’ve already met me.”
[Henry:] “Yes. I would stop.”
“Not today, O Lord,
O, not today, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown.
I Richard’s body have interrèd new
And on it have bestowed more contrite tears
Than from it issued forcèd drops of blood.
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay
Who twice a day their withered hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood.”
“Henry’s a perfectionist, I mean, really-really kind of inhuman — very brilliant, very erratic and enigmatic. He’s a stiff, cold person, Machiavellian, ascetic and he’s made himself what he is by sheer strength of will.”
“His aspiration is to be this Platonic creature of pure rationality and that’s why he’s attracted to the Classics, and particularly to the Greeks — all those high, cold ideas of beauty and perfection. I think it’s what in the end that gets him into trouble.”
“That opposites attract, is a sound one, but Henry and Amy seem like abstractions, not real children. Amy is said to teach Henry that ”“the sky was up and the ground was down”″ and shows him ”“his front from his back”″; Henry reciprocates with lessons in ”“back-to-front and topsy-turvy.”
Henry always felt out of step with the world around him. When everyone looked up, he looked down. If he thought it was going to be a sunny day, it usually rained.
“So Henry showed Amy how to dress funny and roll down hills sideways. Together, they could be serious or silly, right-way-round or upside down. As long as they were together they could do anything!”
″ So Henry showed Amy how to dress funny and roll down hills sideways. Together, they could be serious or silly, right-way-round or upside down. As long as they were together they could do anything!
Any child who has ever experienced a moment of self-doubt will be both reassured and delighted by this heartwarming tale of two very different friends and their ability to help one another feel more complete.”
″ Amy, on the other hand, does everything right; she can even write her own name. But there’s the rub: ”“Deep down, Amy wished everything she did wasn’t so perfect.”″ When Henry and Amy bump into each other, they become fast friends.
“Amy could do everything right, She never tied her shoelaces together, or forgot her umbrella. Amy showed Henry everything she knew, but deep down she wished she didn’t always have to be so perfect.”
‘It’s not polite to count nits,’ said his younger brother, Perfect Peter, wiping his mouth with his spotless napkin. ‘Is it, Mum?’ ‘It certainly isn’t,’ said Mum. Dad dragged the nit comb across his head and made a face. ‘Ugjj,’ said Dad. Mum dragged the comb through her hair, ‘Bleccch,’ said Mum. Mum combed Perfect Peter’s hair. Then she did it again. And again. And again. ‘No nits, Peter,’ said Mum, smiling. ‘As usual. Well done, darling.’ ‘It’s because I wash and comb my hair every night,’ said Peter.”
“In the split second that he stood still to consider this interesting information, Mum emptied the bottle of supersonic nit-blasting shampoo over his hair. ‘No!’ screamed Henry. Frantically he shook his head. There was shampoo on the door. There was shampoo on the floor Mum and Dad. The only place there was no shampoo was on Henry’s head. ‘Henry! Stop being horrid!’ yelled Dad, wiping shampoo off his jacket.?
“Henry scratched his head. ‘Stop scratching, Henry!’ said Mum and Dad. ‘Uh-oh,’ said Mum. She put down her fork and frowned at Henry. ‘Henry, do you. have nits again?’
‘Of course not,’ said Henry. ‘Come over to the sink, Henry,’ said Mum. ‘Why?’ said Henry. ‘I need to check your head.’ Henry dragged his feet over to her slowly as possible. It’s not fair, he thought.
“He hated the stinky smelly horrible shampoo much more than he hated having nits. Only today his teacher, Miss Battle-Axe, had sent home a nit letter. Naturally, Henry had crumpled the letter and thrown it away. He was never ever going to have pongy nit shampoo on his head again. What rotten luck Mum had spotted him scratching.”
“Henry bent over his worksheet and tried to look studious. ‘Henry is,’ said Moody Margaret. ‘Liar!’ shouted Horrid Henry. ‘It was William!’ Weepy William burst into tears. ‘No it wasn’t,’ he sobbed. Miss Battle-Axe glared at the class. ‘I am going to find out once and for all who’s got nits,’ she growled.
″‘It’s the only way to get rid of nits,’ said Dad. ‘But it never works!’ screamed Henry. And he ran for the door. Mum and Dad grabbed him. Then they dragged him kicking and screaming to the bathroom. ‘Nits are living creatures,’ howled Henry. ‘Why kill them.’ ‘Because...’ said Mum. ‘Because...because... they’re blood-sucking nits,’ said Dad. Blood-sucking. Henry had never thought of that. ”
“It wasn’t his fault nits loved him. Henry’s head was a gathering place for nits far and wide. They probably held nit parties there and foreign nits visited him in their holidays. Mum dragged the nit comb across Henry’s head. She made a face and groaned. ‘You are crawling with nits, Henry,” said Mum.”
“Ramona stood with both heels on the curb, but her toes out over the gutter. Henry could not say she was not standing on the curb, so he merely glared. ”
“Edward and Henry stop quite often and tell him the news. Gordon is always in a hurry and does not stop, but he never forgets to say, ‘poop poop’ to little Thomas, and Thomas always whistles. ‘Peep peep’ in return.”