Interestingly though, I don't think that I ever read The Witches as a child. I remember reading The Twits over and over again, but I can't recall reading The Witches. I was, however, a big fan of the movie version of The Witches with Angelica Houston playing the Grand High Witch.
In The Witches, a young boy, Luke, goes to live with his grandmother when his parents pass away. His grandmother teaches him lots of useful things about witches, real witches, who live all over the world and who make it their business to kill as many children as they can. Eventually, he finds himself trapped in the witches' clutches when he mistakenly gets locked into their annual convention and overhears their plot to turn all the children in the world into mice! Things go badly, and it then up to him and his grandmother to save the rest of the world's children from the evil fate that awaits them.
What's not to love about this book as child! There's magic, there's excitement, there's fear and there are the wonderful illustrations provided by Quentin Blake to go with it.
There's not a lot else to say about The Witches by Roald Dahl, except to say that even as an adult the story retained most of its magic. I wouldn't mind re-reading a lot of his other books and my new little addition (coming soon) might just give me the excuse to do it!
6 / 8
Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it
What was your favourite Roald Dahl book as a child? Did you enjoy The Witches or did it give you nightmares?
Originally posted 17 December 2011 Page Turners
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