The Witches (Puffin Novels)

by Roald Dahl

published

1998 (first published 1983) by Puffin

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binding

Paperback, 208 pages

literary awards

Whitbread Literary Award (1983)

isbn

0141301104 (isbn13: 9780141301105)

description

This Roald Dahl classic tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven-year-old boy who has a run-in with some real-life witches! "In fai...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 13877)

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Natalie rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

07/18/08

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Natalie by: Swiped off of Frank's bookshelf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Wow. This book took me all of two subway trips and a little bit of pre-bedtime reading to finish. I mean, no surprise because it's a kid's book and the type is huge. But, it was also due to the fact that this book was awesome and I couldn't help but take it in so quick!

As a kid, I was a huge Chocolate Factory / Great Glass Elevator junkie. I remember playing Vermicious Knids on the playground at recess. So I find it weird that I never got around to reading much of Dahl's other ...more Wow. This book took me all of two subway trips and a little bit of pre-bedtime reading to finish. I mean, no surprise because it's a kid's book and the type is huge. But, it was also due to the fact that this book was awesome and I couldn't help but take it in so quick!

As a kid, I was a huge Chocolate Factory / Great Glass Elevator junkie. I remember playing Vermicious Knids on the playground at recess. So I find it weird that I never got around to reading much of Dahl's other children's books when I was actually a kid. I did, however, discover his adult literature as I got older and am a huge fan. It seemed natural to want to pick up what I missed out on now. Yesterday seemed the perfect opportunity since I was looking for a quick read to tide me over until the weekend (I want to hit the library tomorrow) and it was nice to read something sweet and innocent after finishing J.G. Ballard's Crash.

Anyways, The Witches was great. At first I was worried it was all going to be cliche with the typical "parents killed / orphan child" beginning. Pleasantly, the book was anything but. The grandmother character was just a cool old broad with her black cigars and knowledge of witches. The boy was cute and sweet and smart. I was actually quite surprised when he was turned into a mouse. As the hero of the book, I expected him to escape that fate. I also liked that the witches were very different from the standard fairy tale witches and that they were organized like business women and holding a conference.

The ending of the tale was very bittersweet. It was very touching that the boy would continue to live as a mouse and his lifespan would be about the same as his grandmother's remaining years. That really choked me up. But, it was very cute that they were going to spend the remainder of their years fighting the rest of the witches of the world. I felt like this was setting up for a sequel. I would love to read more adventures of these two.

But the bittersweetness and even the fact that the boy couldn't change back into a boy...these are both aspects as to what I really like about Dahl's writing. It's fantasy, but not always all happy happy shiny endings.

My only disappointment? I expected the boy, as a mouse, to somehow run into the two white mice who had been his pets after he turned into a mouse himself. I thought their tight rope training would come back into play. I just think that would've been neat to tie back in....less

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2 comments

bp rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

05/09/07

Read in January, 1985

recommends it for: 5th graders. And their parents.

The way my life is recently, I'd be lucky to be able to finish reading the headline of the Post before having to attend to something else.
So in the absense of any meaningful free time in my life, I will be reviewing books from years past, the glory days when I could actually curl up on the couch and fall into a story. Or in the case of Roald Dahl, through the scary trap-door into bizarro world of teacher-witches, crazy chocolate factory owners, and insects live and chat with youngsters inside...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comments

Thylacoleo_carnifex rated it:

(review of isbn 8420466832)

05/12/08

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Y con éste acabo mi trilogía particular sobre el señor Dahl. Y acabo, con el que es el mejor a mi gusto. Libro lleno de crueldad, miedo-que-te-cagas, ternura, humor y sobre todo incorrección política. Porque si te pones a decirle a los niños ahora que lo mejor para que no te huela una bruja es no bañarse, y que encima te lo diga una anciana fumando un puraco apestoso, pues poco más que te crucifican. Pero es que el libro no es una postura controvertida para llamar la atención, no. Es un...more

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sarafem rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

03/08/08

bookshelves: juvenile-7-to-10, royally-sucked

I would love to know why I am the only person on the planet who did not like this book. I tried to find some bad reviews on GoodReads, but the only one and two star reviews said things like "Bad no like mousey! dlksk djglsk diewqls!" I'm assuming they were in a foreign language and not written by a kid who could not type, but I was too lazy to click on the profiles. Maybe I should learn the language and go live there, where we can all unite in our hatred of this book.

It seems to me...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

7 comments

Jessica rated it:

05/08/07

Read in January, 1996

Warning: Extremely Long Review and Childhood Storytelling

When I was ten or eleven, I was sitting in the playground at summer camp, minding my own business and reading this book, when one of the playground supervisers came and asked me what I was reading. When I showed it to him, his eyes got wide and he took the book from me. Then he went to the trash can and started ripping it up, page by page. And he washed his hands afterwards, "to get rid of the filth." It was a library book....more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

Andrea rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

06/19/08

Read in June, 2008

I just read this book with Alexis. We are currently looking for the movie!! I saw this movie as a child. I must say that I actually like the movie better, but I loved this story. I had never read it before. I love the way Dahl writes. He is such a great descriptor. I think this book might have been terrifying to me as a kid. Lexi is more level headed. I just got so enveloped in a story that I felt it was real for a time. Lexi being intrigued by the witches and how they look and how the...more

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1 comments

A.L. rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

06/11/08

bookshelves: fiction, recommended-reading

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: 7 to 10 year olds

This book was really fun! My goal lately has been to read some of the "classics" that I missed out on growing up. From Hemingway to Dahl. Big kid books and grown up books.
The Witches was fun. I loved Dahl's version of them - totally evil and bent on the impossible destruction of children everywhere! Their claws and toeless feet shoved into pointy little shoes are a riot! And I thought it was a great twist that there actually is no cure for what happens to the main character, a...more

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Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0374384576)

11/09/07

bookshelves: favorites, leetle-boys, people-turn-to-creatures-, wee-ones-and-bored-teenagers

Read in January, 1986

recommends it for: kids

This was the first really spectacular novel I ever read, and it started me on a childhood of dorkliness and a life containing far more amusement and pleasure that I ever would've had if I hadn't been a bookworm as a kid. I remember walking to school while reading The Witches. Fortunately, we lived on the same block as the school, and there weren't any streets to cross on the way, so the only consequence was being teased mercilessly by my peers.

I don't know that I've reread this book since I ...more

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15 comments

Swapanti rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

10/02/08

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Swapanti by: teachers
recommends it for: everyone

Have you guys even read this book? Well I think you guys SHOULD.The thing I learned from this book is that You have to stay away from those dreadful witches. They could be anywhere with those huge runny noses, faces like ugly, disgusting cockroaches and feet without toenails. How does that sound to you? A little creepy, I guess. So, go ahead and read it.

If you've ever heard about the author,Roald Dahl, he is the author of this book.He also wrote many other great books but I think I love t...more

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Kathleen rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

10/06/07

Read in October, 2007

When I picked this book up I didn't realize it was the book version of a movie I had seen a few times and enjoyed. I had no idea the movie was based on a book, let alone this one. It was a pleasant surprise. The book and movie are quite alike.

In the book, witches live all over the place and are disguised as regular women. They hold an annual meeting where the grand high witch gives all the witches of a country their orders for the next year. Witches are really another species, naturally bald...more

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dirt rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

09/24/08

Read in September, 2008

recommends it for: Mice and Men

A clever adventure into the world of witches.

The love the between grandson and grandmother is absolutely wonderful and spills over into the theme of loving someone no matter what. When the grandmother asks if he minds being a mouse forever, the grandson replies: "It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you."

Of course he doesn't mind being a mouse because "Little boys have to go to school. Mice don't. Mice don't have to w...more

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Cathy rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

05/01/08

Read in April, 2008

My six-year-old is reading this and I loved Dahl as a kid, so I picked it up last night (it was published too late for me to read when I actually was a child). Holy cow! This must be the most terrifying children's book I've ever read, with the possible exceptions of "Coraline" and "Candle in Her Room." Dahl is always great and often dark, but rarely to this extent. Vile female witches with long claws and scabby bald heads scheme to kill or transform children in horrible ways,...more

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2 comments

Roberta rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

08/28/08

Read in January, 1986

When I was a precocious sixth grader, back in 1986-87, my teacher, Mrs. Stob, set out on a mission to expose her students to the works or Roald Dahl. I'd read a few things, but not this one, and I was instantly hooked.

She read aloud to us, for half an hour every day, using the most fantastic voices, and we were supposed to summarize what she read, and write a mini review of sorts, or answer "what do you think?" type questions.

An original print paperback copy came into my posses...more

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Karry rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

05/26/08

recommends it for: appropriate for ages 8 to 80

I don't think I've ever reread a book as often as I did with The Witches. Entertaining story, delightfully memorable characters, you couldn't ask for anything more in a children's book. But more than anything, this book is unfortunately one of the few connections I have with a long distant childhood; lazy afternoons spent eating cheese sandwiches and flipping though these well-worn pages, with what seemed like all the time in the world to do nothing at all, a reminder of a period in my life w...more

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Dolly rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

09/28/07

Read in January, 1999

recommends it for: Everyone

This was the first book I read from Roald Dahl's collection and my favorite. Its a elementary book, which I read when I was nine, but I could still remember the story in my head. It's about a group of witches in disguise and they are out there to catch little boys. I don't quite remember the characters' names since it has been nine years. I always thought of this book as one of those moral tales that your parents tell you so that you would behave. Overall I rate this book a must-read book. Btw.....more

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Shygirl rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

05/15/08

This is a book about a boy and his grandmother and these evil witches. The boy and his grandmother go to a hotel were those evil wiches are going to!! The boy was turned in to a mouse like his friend. His grandmother and his friend and him have to find a way to get rid of the wiches and the leader witch wich is ugly and evil before they get rid of them. In this book the withes dont dresss in black and were pinty hats. They dress like real pepole and discise there horrible fingers and toes. They ...more

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Medford Children's Library added it (review of isbn 0142407941)

09/27/07

recommends it for: fantasy, scary

When an orphaned boy and his gradmother take a vacation they stumble upon the Annual Witches convention. When he accidentally sits in on a meeting, he learns about Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker which will turn all the children of the world into mice. Unfortunately, he must experience this firsthand as the witches smell him in the room. With no toes and rotten worm eating faces, the descriptions and illustrations are both comical and scary. The boy and his grandmother must come up with a ...more

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Charm rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

04/07/08

Read in February, 2008

This book is really really awful. It takes the children's attentions and makes them to believe in witches. And also this is my favourite book that i have ever read. But now i am still reading his book, the tittle is [MATILDA}. I bought this book from Northland sec schoo,singapore. The reason i have bought this bookis because of [THE WITCH:] one of his book.The witch, ention that the litte boy believed his grandmother's sayings. She knew detail about the real wirches. BUt when u read this book u ...more

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Shalini rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

09/05/07

Read in September, 2007

Although i've read this at a time where i'm much too old for it, i enjoyed the experience to the fullest!

Having said that, i can't help but imagine what kids must be going through when reading it, for many a time i found things amusing rather than scary, only because i know now, that witches don't exist. But it probably instilled paranoia in kids, and i wouldn't be surprised if they were predisposed to think that every other woman is a witch :)

I like the concept, and am in awe of the aut...more

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Rohan rated it:

(review of isbn 0590032496)

11/25/07

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: roald dahl lovers

I think that this is the best book Roald dahl is written.In this book Roald Dahl lets his imagination go wild and writes a book that sets him apart from even Enid Blyton.

The witches is abook about a ten year old boy who has just lost his parents in a car accident.He lives with his grandmother who tells him true tales about witches.She herself was a witch hunter.She tells him all the horrible things that witches are known to have done.

She tells him about how to recognise a witch and they ...more

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