The Witches

published	2005 by Scholastic
first published	1983
binding	Paperback
isbn	0590032496 (isbn13: 9780590032490)
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 [close] 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 fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs. That is why they are so hard to catch." Witches, as our hero learns, hate children. With the help of a friend and his somewhat-magical grandmother, our hero tries to expose the witches before they dispose of him. Ages 7-12. [close]
date added	12-08-06 edit book

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Natalie rated it:

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:

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

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1 comments

sarafem rated it:

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

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6 comments

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0141301104)

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

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2 comments

Andrea rated it:

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:

06/11/08

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

Cathy rated it:

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

Karry rated it:

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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Callista rated it:

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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Dolly rated it:

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:

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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Charm rated it:

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 w...more

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Shalini rated it:

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:

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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Max rated it:

10/03/07

bookshelves: advisory

Read in April, 2006

recommends it for: kids.

The Witches is about cruel "women" who want to enslave the world by destroying the existance of children. The main character, whose name was not mentioned once in the story, as I reread this book several times, and his grandmother, try to live a normal social life. However, wherever they go, unfortunate events that include witches occur. What this book taught me was that the mind can be even more powerful than power. The witches had the power to act like real women, and can use mag...more

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Mayla rated it:

06/01/08

Read in September, 2007

LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! i read it when i was probably in 3rd grade. it was one of the best books ever. i could never put it down. i still love it.

The Witches is one of the most creative books i have ever written. Roald Dahl has a great imagination and is brilliant in creating something out of nothing. This humorous and creative story is about how a boy and his grandmother, who happens to be a witch hunter, defeat the witches that come their way.

When I start reading it, the temptatio...more

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Bekah rated it:

07/14/08

While on bedrest I decided to re-read my favorites from childhood. The Witches was just as good as I remembered. I just gobbled it up.

Just be careful and watch out for these warning signs I am convinced they still exsist:

Slightly larger, shell-shaped nostrils
Blue tinge to tongue and teeth (as their saliva is naturally blue).
Pupils that seem to change colour and have fire and ice dancing inside.
Always wears gloves to cover claw-like fingernails
Wears a wig to hide baldness a...more

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Alexis rated it:

10/09/07

bookshelves: fantasy-sci-fi

A young boy loses his parents in a tragic accident and must live with his wise grandmother. She gives him survival tips about living among witches (the world's best hidden secret). This young boy is forced to become the hero who will prevent all the children in England from disappearing. Roald Dahl is such a unique author that I can't help but enjoy everything he writes. Despite its dark context, his stories are exceedingly intriguing and creative. The Witches is no exception. I love the idea b...more

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Karen A. rated it:

03/30/08

bookshelves: junior-fiction

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Children 6 and up

My kids and I listened to this one in the car. I initially thought that it was too scary. Some of the author's descriptions of witches are very scary. Add to that that they are snatching children out of plain daylight I figured my kids (8yrs and 5 yrs) would be having nightmares. However when I asked if they liked it I received a resounding 'YES'!!! And my daughter finally just told me to bring the tapes into the house so she could finish listening to the story. By then I was hooked as well...more

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1 comments